Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.LINCOLN — College campuses are not just a place for learning and socializing. They also are a place for selling.
Students increasingly are taking on the role of "brand ambassador" and marketing everything from movies and energy drinks to computers and clothing. In return, the students get résumé boosters, college credit and extra cash.
"It's all about the peer-to-peer marketing," said Zee Chiweshe, a senior advertising major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who represents Universal Pictures and recently hosted a "Bridesmaids" DVD-release party at a Lincoln bar.
National brands recruit charismatic and outgoing students to represent their company on campus. Then the students give out free stuff, let their classmates and friends test the products and spread the word about the company.
An estimated 10,000 U.S. college students are working this fall on hundreds of campuses — including UNL and Iowa State University — for corporations seeking inroads to a population that spent about $36 billion on things such as clothing, computers and cellphones during the 2010-11 school year.
Similar to the pitches that college students long have faced for credit cards and other goods and services, today's marketing is much more a part of everyday life and more personalized because the pitches come from popular schoolmates.
"The whole objective is for the students to really position themselves as consultants for the brand," said Suzie Sackman of Team Epic advertising agency, which is currently hiring brand ambassadors for Panera Bread.
Panera Bread and Verizon Wireless both are looking for UNL students to represent their products and are listed under internship opportunities on UNL's College of Journalism and Mass Communications website. Apple Inc., Victoria's Secret, WestLaw and many other companies also are represented at UNL.
"Every company and their mom is doing brand representation," said Caleb Ulffers, who will graduate from UNL in December with a degree in marketing.
He gives out free Monsters at events for his brand ambassador job at Monster Energy Drink. He said if someone gets enough free Monster, maybe next time they go to buy an energy drink, they'll choose Monster instead of Red Bull.
The university-corporate relationships are not without controversy. The University of New Hampshire this fall got a flurry of attention over the Red Bull energy drink. First, administrators banned the sale of nonalcoholic energy drinks, then put the ban on hold and finally rescinded it.
University officials wouldn't comment on ties to Red Bull, but the company brought a motorcycle show to the spring picnic, had skydivers drop into the homecoming football game, gave away a prize package to students and is holding a "stash" contest in which students look for hidden four-packs of the drinks to win prizes. Red Bull has similar relationships with about 700 other campuses.
To get these jobs, students have to prove that they not only can market a product but also themselves. Hans Larsen said his application for Microsoft's campus representative job was like a competition, and with a couple hundred online votes, he got the job.
For his job at Monster, Ulffers didn't even fill out an application. Instead he was asked about his involvement on campus, friendships and if he can pump up a crowd. Having a lot of Facebook friends doesn't hurt.
Or as Larsen put it, "It's important to make sure I can interact well, make sure I'm involved in campus, and I'll be successful with it."
Campus representatives are paid less than their professional marketing counterparts, but for the college students who work these jobs, they are bringing in a decent part-time job income.
Chiweshe makes a few hundred dollars a month, sets his own hours and gets free movie tickets. He also just started working for a video-game marketing company, Digital Sauce Marketing, and expects to be paid an additional $400 a month.
"I'm paid to show or demo a video game and promote some movie. That's pretty good for me," Chiweshe said.
For Microsoft, the pay is less but the free software might even the score. Larsen, UNL's Microsoft rep, is going on three years working for the company. He makes about $750 a semester but also has gotten three new laptop computers with the latest Microsoft software.
Microsoft also gives prizes and gift cards to its top representatives. Larsen said he's gotten some small gift cards, while the top sellers can win TVs or a job at Microsoft headquarters.
Ulffers works fewer than 20 hours a month for Monster Energy Drinks and gets paid about $200 a month.
"And I get free Monster, which is great," said Ulffers who picks up 20 cases of Monsters each month to hand out at events.
But not all campus representatives are paid. Jordan Johnson works for three companies — Toms Shoes, Foursquare and To Write Love on Her Arms — without pay. Instead, it's an opportunity to work for a company he likes.
"I really like the product that they've built," said Johnson, who got 225 students to use Foursquare at UNL's Big Red Welcome, an annual back-to-school event.
Foursquare is a location-based social media application for smartphones and mobile devices. Since Foursquare is still new — it started in 2009 — Johnson's main job is to spread the word about it and get people who use it to use it more.
This semester, Panera Bread is starting its own brand ambassador program and plans to offer incentives such as college credit. Some universities require internships and offer credit for the jobs. The companies, like Panera, work with individual students and colleges to help students receive credit for the brand ambassador jobs.
The other main incentive is experience. It's also an opportunity to put marketing and advertising class work into perspective.
"It's not your average job where I'm going to be flipping burgers," said Larsen, who plans to use his Microsoft experience on his résumé.
Larsen said having the name of a large and respectable business on his résumé and the experience of a marketing job will help him after college even though he doesn't want to work in product promotion. Larsen is a business administration major at UNL's College of Business Administration. He said that interacting with students is great experience.
For Chiweshe and Ulffers, the job hits a little closer to their goals. Chiweshe said he wants to work in entertainment promotion, and Ulffers said he would love to do product promotion through events. That's basically what they are doing part time while getting their degrees.
"It's going to be a great notch on their résumé when they graduate," said Sackman about brand ambassadors jobs.
The students enjoy the work, too. Chiweshe's job is mainly hanging up posters for movies and planning events like the recent free showing of "Bridesmaids" to promote the DVD release and a ladies night competition at Lincoln's Downtown Bar. He also is planning a "Call of Duty" competition in October. For him, it's an enjoyable job and the free video games and movies don't hurt.
"I almost think my friends only hang out with me because I give them free stuff," Chiweshe said.
This report includes material from the Associated Press and the New York Times.
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