Shift In Student Consumer Trends

As a collective, students are generally viewed as having a high disposable income, as well as the desire to pursue a consumerist, hedonistic lifestyle. Because of this, students in the UK continue to be a key demographic for a massive number of brand campaigns. Consequently, the world of the student has evolved exponentially; they are highly savvy consumers that recognise the power of their purchases.

Upon graduation, the reality is that students face debt in excess of £20,000, so the traditional student lifestyle of constant drunken debauchery has given way somewhat to careful lifestyle choices, including the tribes and brands they affiliate themselves with and this has had a direct impact on student unions.

This change in student attitudes means that the traditional “catch-all” events that student unions put on (the ones that assume students only dance to a horrific barrage of cheese) no longer pull in the crowds. Students, from making smarter lifestyle choices, start to build a personal identity or a “tribe “ based on common interests with others and the formulaic, mass student union events of the past don’t resonate anymore. Together with increased competition from ‘non-union’ venues, that have the power to promote heavily and slash prices, something that is a no-no for unions who have to adhere to a responsible drinking policy and who simply don’t have the resources due to their ‘not-for-profit’ charity status, it’s been a wake-up call for the unions.

Social networking sites continue to be an essential part of student life; for example, over 60% of the 20,000 University of Warwick students are active Facebook users. Whether students are into flash mobs, secret warehouse raves or a pint/kebab combo, there is massive potential to feel part of a virtual community. It is arguable whether this dilutes or enriches the student experience. In the case for the former, it removes students even further from the traditional hub of ‘real’ student activity and the student union, in favour of venues further afield and online communities.

And so entertainment managers at student unions are starting to think smarter, build a union brand and target students as specific audiences that they need to tailor events to. Ents managers are increasingly expressing their brand values creatively by establishing more sophisticated events that target student “tribes” across the spectrum. An example of this is the sponsorship collaboration between Red Stripe and U Live, a brand established by the NUS. Together they put on a highly student-targeted tour of the unions including credible talent such as The Automatic, Futureheads and Joe Lean and the Jing Jong, in a bid to reclaim live music culture from conglomerates and give students compelling experiences to visit the unions for.

Online, unions are also upping their game using social networks as a portal for all entertainment and democratic information, as well as to drive traffic to the union website.

The future role for student unions remains unclear, but whilst students continue to become intelligent, tuned in consumers they’ll be keeping the unions on their toes, which can only be a good thing.

• View all articles
• Next article
• Previous article