The student market in the UK is estimated to be worth £13 billion of spending power in a year. It is a market no company should ignore. Marketers are desperate to get students’ attention before they turn into high-earning graduates. But students are hard to reach and cynical. How can brands target them? Youth market trends analyst Sean Pillot de Chenecey advises companies who hope to market to students. He says there is no single strategy. Students organize their life on their mobile phones, respect brands that are ethical, but worry more about how they are going to pay off their debt than world peace. To get students’ attention, marketers must offer them something that adds to their lives. It isn’t enough to simply sponsor a music tour: they have to make the event happen. For example, Carling (a beer manufacturer) introduced live music at train station. Offering students help with their education and careers is an effective marketing method. The Guardian newspaper runs careers fairs and offers discounts on its products, such as Guardian Student, a 32-page newspaper. Red Bull, a successful energy drinks brand, uses what it calls “energy teams” on university campuses. The company recruits teams of students and gives them a Red Bull car, which has a fridge. The students offer samples and give information about the product benefits. They do this on campus at sporting events and at times of the year when students might need an energy boost. “It’s extremely important that it is a student doing this and not a company sales rep,” says the company’s consumer manager who runs the scheme. “You need to have an approach that doesn’t look like a sales pitch.” Having an insider on campus can help marketers understand student life. Youth marketing agency, Virgin D3, has a database of students who act as “field staff”. They ask them for help when planning an event at their university. Perhaps, by getting ideas from the students themselves, companies can find ways to reach this difficult market.