COLLEGE NIGHT
UNF Office of Campus Life and Target
UNF CAMPUS LIFE
COLLEGE NIGHT
UNF Office of Campus Life and Target
Each fall semester, colleges and universities host an event known as “College
Night” during their freshman move in. Through a partnership with a local
Target store, universities are able to offer first year students the opportunity
to get last minute items for their residences during an exclusive shopping
experience. Target stores have been putting on this year for a decade,
impacting 155,000 students all over the United States from universities such
as UCLA, UCF, Ohio State and FAMU. The after hour shopping event is able
to give freshman a positive impression by having exclusive deals and
giveaways in an exciting environment. With the freshmen population
increasing as each year passes, the University of North Florida would like to
implement this same event with your Target store. With Target and UNF
being only a few minutes apart from each other, the event would benefit both
sides in many ways.
For starters, students will have the opportunity to stock up on last minute
items alongside their peers as one of their first college experiences.
Subsequently, UNF freshmen and parents will have positive mindsets going
into their first year of college. Target will benefit in that it will have the
opportunity to not only build lasting relationships with potential customers,
but secure a financial profit from the abundance of students shopping during
the event.
Target College Night
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UNF CAMPUS LIFE
TARGET MARKET ANALYSIS
College Students
College students are a prime consumer to target for both short term and long
term financial profit. Looking at immediate profit gains, college students are
a good consumer to target because of the amount they spend annually with
moving into residence halls. According to Business Insider, college students
on average spend 907.22 each year towards their residence hall. According to
Business Wire, 96 percent of student shoppers would be more likely to make
a repeat purchase from a brand that offers student discounts. Furthermore,
the National Retail Federation found that 53 percent of millennials have a
“live for today” philosophy towards spending, meaning they are less
concerned with price and their personal finances when shopping.
College students serve as a prime consumer when looking long term because
of their age. At this age, college students are living on their own for the first
time and thus able to make their own
decisions when it comes to where to shop
“When consumers were asked whether
and what to buy. Steven Stolls, vice
they believed in “living for today” in
president of sales at American Student
terms of spending, more than one out of
Lists, stated in an article by Target
every two Millennials (53%) agreed.”
Market Magazine, "first impressions are
-National Retail Federation
critical, and the sooner you can make a
connection with these students, the more
likely it is they'll remember your product
and have a long life cycle.” In a nutshell, targeting college students pays off
in the long run because they are at a crucial time to create brand loyalty and
lifetime habits. This concept is backed by the idea that college students will
go on to become wealthier, educated individuals, and therefore put them into
the position to spend more on the same areas they committed to as college
students.
Target College Night
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UNF CAMPUS LIFE
UNF Students
In recent years the University of North Florida has grown tremendously,
making the amount of potential consumers derived from the university larger
than the past. Since 2013, UNF has required freshmen to live on campus for
their first year of college, while expanding to accommodate the growing
student population. With more students living on campus, there’s more
opportunity to impact college students during the freshman move in event.
Below are graphs depicting the annual projected for UNF until the year 2016.
Fall 2013 Residence Hall Population
Senior
9%
Freshman
39%
Junior
23%
Sophomore
29%
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
UNF has a total of … student living on campus, with 1,111 being first year students.
UNF First Year Enrollment Projections
2440
2420
2400
2380
2360
2340
2320
2300
Fall 2014
Fall 2015
Fall 2016
The projected headcount for freshman in 2016 is 2425 students.
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UNF CAMPUS LIFE
The growth of the student population aside, UNF’s students are also a good
population to target because of their proximity to the town center. The
residence halls are minutes away from the town center, making it an easy
commute for students. With a shuttle that drives students from the library to
the town center, it will be easy to achieve a consistent flow of students from
UNF. Making a good first impression with consumers is also important
because if secures future customers because of familiarity with store and
satisfaction received during initial experience. Being able to host an event of
this scale will decrease the competition to attract college students with
neighboring stores such as Publix, because Target would have already made
a connection with college students.
SWOT ANALYSIS
The perceived strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities are found in the chart
below.
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
● UNF student population
 first year hosting event
● distance to St. johns
● ability to market event directly to
students through email, fliers
etc.
THREATS
OPPORTUNITIES
● Build relationship with UNF
 other nearby stores attempting
students
similar events
● promote target “stuff” to
students; target red card
● future collaborations for events
Target College Night
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UNF CAMPUS LIFE
GOAL
To create an annual “College Night” event through partnership with Target
to engage college students moving on campus during UNF’s annual “Week of
Welcome”
Objective
Generate awareness of event through various channels, reaching 750
students
Objective
Create incentives in efforts of securing 500 students to attend.
Target College Night
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UNF CAMPUS LIFE
OBJECTIVE ONE
Generate awareness of event through various channels, reaching 1500
students
Strategy 1: Snail Mail
Tactics:



Send direct piece to incoming students detailing Target
“College Night” event
Send direct piece to parents through partnership with the
Office of Family
Include social media pages on direct mail piece
Strategy 2: Social Media
Tactics:



Post to UNF Campus Life page
Post into incoming freshman page
Have Residence Life to post about event
Strategy 3: Word of Mouth during Move In
Tactics:



Hand out fliers to students moving into dorms,
Post fliers to housing bulletin boards
Partner with residence life to do “dorm storm” and have
RA’s to do an all call for Target Event
Strategy 4: Target Takeover
Tactic:

Keep fliers at the registers to give out to UNF Parents
and students
Target College Night
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UNF CAMPUS LIFE
OBJECTIVE TWO
Create incentives in efforts of securing 500 students to attend.
Strategy 1: Creating a “college environment” at Target
Tactics:



Lively music throughout the store
UNF themed merchandise for students
Focus area on dorm supplies and other college necessities
Strategy 2: Giveaways and promotions
Tactics:




Promotional deals exclusive to that night
Door prizes
End of the night raffle giveaway
Hourly contests
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UNF CAMPUS LIFE
EVALUATION
To measure whether the event was successful the UNF Office of Campus Life
will evaluate the amount of students who attended the event, and student
satisfaction.

If 500 of the students living on campus attend the college night event,
the event would be consider to have been successful.

To gauge student satisfaction, the following survey will be available for
students to fill out. If the average of students who enjoyed the event
reaches 75 percent or higher, we would have considered our efforts to
have been successful.
Student Satisfaction Survey
1. On a scale from 1-10, how much did you
enjoy this event?
2. What was your favorite part of the
event?
3. What improvements would you make to
this event?
4. Was this event helpful with your
campus living transition?
5. Would you recommend this event for
future freshman classes?
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UNF CAMPUS LIFE
REFERENCES
"Across the Ages: Generational Impact on Spending." National Retail
Federation Insight Center, 1 Dec. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
Cheraskky, Irene. "Market Focus - College Students." Target Marketing. 1
Apr. 2005. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
"Enrollment Projections." UNF. Office of Institutional Research and
Asessment. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
"Housing Profile." Www.unf.edu/housing. UNF Department of Residence
Life, 1 Aug. 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
Kaplan, Kathryn. "Access to Online Discounts Would Drive Brand Loyalty
Among College Students, Survey Finds." Access to Online Discounts Would
Drive Brand Loyalty Among College Students, Survey Finds. 25 Nov. 2014.
Web. 24 Mar. 2015
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UNF CAMPUS LIFE
CONTACT LIST
NAME
POSITION
Theresa O’Donnell Director of
Price
Campus Life
NUMBER
EMAIL
Theresa.odonnell.price@unf.edu
904.255.5555
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