Blink and you might miss it. But corporations are banking billions of dollars in marketing and advertising on the chance that you won't.
The demographic encompassing 18 to 25-year-olds is the one most feverishly sought after by corporations worldwide, making most UB students - with pools of disposable income - their prime target.
"The marketing business has put a price on your head, to the tune of $300 billion a year - that's what experts believe that people your age collectively spend," stated Allan Casey, an author, in an article for www.adbusters.org.
According to Christopher Mele, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, corporations go after the student dollar by studying the students themselves.
"Corporations target youth markets by employing what journalists have called 'cool hunting' in order to predict the next trend in consumer markets, which change quickly and dramatically," he said.
According to Mele, these cool hunters are experts paid to study people in schools, malls and clubs in cities and suburbs throughout America. They film them as well as take notes about trends as they arise in art, fashion and music. Even their mannerisms are analyzed.
"All of which may be used in advertising to market anything from jeans to automobiles," he said.
Corporations devote not only large blocks of time to marketing in the form of research. They spend enormous amounts of money as well.
Apple Computers, the makers of the student favorite, iPod, rakes in $2.9 billion annually, along with another $25 million in revenue from their iTunes enterprise. In turn, they put almost eight percent of that fortune back into advertising aimed at college students, according to www.macworld.co.uk.
Other companies are sacrificing dollars, too, in hopes that it will come back to them, according to Jon Simonin, financial services manager at West-Herr Automotive Group, the largest automotive group in the state, and 27th in the country.
"For the manufacturers, it's a good idea to go after the college student and the college grad," said Simonin. "Their philosophy is that the average person will buy 16 to 18 vehicles in their lifetime. That's $350,000 - it's the largest purchase you will ever make, even more so than your home, which you'll probably only buy one or two of."
Because of this, he said, manufacturers offer incentives to lure in college students, who are usually first-time buyers, in order to create brand loyalty.
"Every brand has what they call their economy car. For example, Volkswagen has the Jetta, Dodge has the Neon, Chevy has the Cavalier and each has their own first-time buyer program, where if you provide proof of graduating or a letter of intent from a future employer, you can get approved at a great rate, and get cash back and other incentives," he said. "In the long run, the returns are great."
Still, there are some consumers in this golden demographic who say they are unfazed by corporate marketing tactics, such as Joshua Thomas, a freshman nursing student.
Still, he said, he is not holding anything against these companies for trying.
"I honestly don't care that they're gearing their marketing toward me. It's good business practice. We're a huge market. They're going to take advantage of it. I would, too," he said.
Joe Krause, a junior aerospace engineering major, agreed.
"I really don't mind, because eventually if I build something, I'm going to advertise to them, too. It's just the way the world works," he said.
But, he said he has doubts about advertising's impact on him.
"If I see an ad, I might think, 'hey, that's clever,' but not, 'hey, let me go out and buy that,'" he said.
Aaron Knoll, a junior urban planning major, suspects marketing strategies might pay off for corporations more often than people think.
"I'm sure it happens all the time, but we don't want to admit to being suckered in to what we see on TV," he said.
And though he said advertising might have an effect on people, he says sometimes it is not always the same effect intended by the corporation.
"I hate Dr. Pepper's ads. They make me not want to buy their stuff. It's stupid, it's just LL Cool J rapping about how great Run-DMC is, and Run-DMC is just standing there like he's too good to rap now," he said. "I don't know if it's targeting me specifically, but it just bugs me."
