Ben Sturner knows the college-targeted advertising market is already saturated, and reaching that audience can be tough. Feature a product in a magazine and students can turn the page. Snag a primetime commercial spot and the remote control can silence all the glory. Put a company’s graphic on a bunch of Frisbees and key chains, they’re as easily forgotten as they were acquired.
But what about when a corporate logo is embossed on your roommate’s forehead and you can’t get through dinner without looking at an advertisement for Dunkin’ Donuts?
It’s called head marketing and, according to Sturner, a College of Communication graduate, the first campaign of its kind in the United States. Sturner, director of marketing for Lincoln, Mass.-based Bennett Global Marketing Group, LLC and a BU alumni, said the idea originated from the success of a similar British face-based advertising venture with soccer team Manchester United.
Now the popular New England donut chain with over 5,000 locations worldwide is attempting to do the same. The promotion, entitled ‘Dunkin’ Mania,’ was put together and launched in a matter of weeks with the help of college and teen marketing firm Mr.Youth after Dunkin’ Donuts expressed an interest in the idea.
By hiring campus representatives across the country to hawk 50,000 of the one-and-a-half-inch by two-and-a-half- inch Dunkin’ Donuts tattoos to casual observers and passersby at ten colleges including Boston University, Boston College, Michigan State, University of Georgia, University of Illinois and the University of California at Sacremento. Sturner said his company’s biggest aim is to increase the popularity of the Dunkin’ Donuts name among students.
If nothing else, it’s sure to turn a few heads. And if you just happen to get a sudden craving for a Boston Crème and a medium coffee after spotting a head ad, it might not be a coincidence.
‘The forehead is the first thing you see when you look at people,’ Sturner said. ‘What better place for a company to get recognized?’
The promotion began at the Fleet Center during recent men’s NCAA Tournament games and was held at BU Monday through Thursday this week, with campus reps ‘tattooing’ the temporary logos on students in front of Warren Towers, the George Sherman Union, the School of Management and along Commonwealth Avenue.
‘I didn’t think it would work at all,’ said Whitney O’Sullivan, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman and Dunkin’ Mania promoter. ‘I never thought people would put something on their face for nothing but once a few students started doing it, we had a crowd coming over to see what was happening.’
O’Sullivan said she and the five BU representatives were met mostly with interest, good humor, a little skepticism and ‘a lot of requests for free donuts and coffee.’ The decals, though, were the only items they distributed. The decorated students were photographed with a digital camera and their pictures are uploaded daily to the campaign’s website, DunkinMania.com.
‘We got a police officer to wear one,’ O’Sullivan said, ‘And this bald guy said we were ‘selling out,’ but then let us put one on his head.’
Bekah Kilman, a freshman in CAS, didn’t appear to have any concern about selling out as O’Sullivan tattooed her outside the GSU on Wednesday.
‘It’s definitely going to be noticed,’ Kilman said after the application, which representatives claim will come off after three to four washes. ‘At least it’s not permanent.’
Sibi Chacko, another campus representative and a freshman in SMG, said the promotion’s general wackiness helped in generating attention. The opportunities to talk to females in passing and earn extra income were added benefits, he said.
‘We’re just being college kids and spreading the Dunkin’ Donuts love,’ Chacko said.
Sturner said Bennett Global has already secured the web addresses ‘headmarketing.com’ and ‘headadvertising.com’ for future campaigns that could involve a wide range of products targeted to college students, including retail brands, automobiles and telecommunications providers.
But what would provoke an already established and well-recognized company like Dunkin’ Donuts to advertise on people? According to Matt Britton, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Mr. Youth, it’s often the offbeat efforts that keep the top competitors in the lead especially among younger consumers who have little reservation about marking up their face.
‘People are desensitized to a lot of advertising, but smart companies always diversify their methods,’ Britton said. ‘And since students haven’t formed brand loyalties yet, [head marketing] is a good way for them to influence their peers. If we reach one person, pretty soon they will reach ten others.’
While it’s unlikely that large crowds on the ‘T’ or upper-level executive management will be sporting Compaq and Dewar’s icons across their brows in the near future, it might not be uncommon to see a growing number of collegiates doing so. Mr. Youth CEO Paul Tedeschi said his firm and Bennett Global are currently expanding the campaign to incorporate other brands for future launches that could be held at sporting events, concerts and conventions.
‘So far the response has been great,’ Tedeschi said. ‘It’s definitely going to be a big trend.’
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