TAKING YOUR BRAND TO THE STREETS!

Market-leading music and popular culture magazines. The quintessential weekly guide for 16-30 year olds interested in keeping in touch with local culture and international trends.

Young Australians who have grown up with the Internet no longer perceive value in paying for magazines and newspapers. The advertiser driven model of street press and other free publications makes these titles increasingly relevant.

* Targeting young Australians aged 16-30 years

* 50% are aged18-24

* 73% are singles living at home

* Large, audited circulations

* Must-read, comprehensive guides to ‘What’s On’

* Long-established, trusted publications

* Free distribution

* Competitive advertising rates

* 20+ titles in metropolitan and regional Australia

Retailers would be relieved to hear the result of ING Direct’s recently-released survey about the spending intentions of Generation Y consumers.

According to the survey of 1052 people, 18-24 year olds are ignoring news of economic doom and gloom, and are planning to spend more this year than last.
 
Street Press offers a cost-effective, targeted and immediate means of advertising to this demographic. Street press titles are published in every major capital across Australia as well as significant regional centres.

Readership of street press is high, with print runs of leading titles reaching 40,000 per week in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.  Circulation peaks in the summer months around annual music festivals and when international music acts are touring the country.

Daniel Laforest, General Manager of national sales representation company Spots & Space says: Gen Y has the most splintered media consumption habits of any group. TV watching is declining, mainstream radio – ditto, newspaper and magazine circulations are in free fall.  Web usage is stratospheric, but if you have a local offer then you wouldn’t want to advertise on any national or global websites.  Our clients are putting together fantastic campaigns targeting 18-24 year olds with street press, youth radio and sometimes out of home.

Advertisers can take advantage of the local nature of street press to reach young consumers across Australia, by location. street press titles with one call.

Young Australians who have grown up with the Internet no longer perceive value in paying for magazines and newspapers. The advertiser-driven model of street press and other free publications makes these titles increasingly relevant.

While traditional newsstand publications are losing circulation, the number of specialist free titles continues to grow.

There are more than 20 street press titles in Australia with major centres supporting at least two, and often three, weekly titles.  Regional centres such as Newcastle, Sunshine Coast, Geelong and Canberra have their own local music paper.

In the Gay/Lesbian market there are local community papers in every major centre as well as freely distributed, national papers.  Brisbane alone has three gay publications.

Specialist free fashion newspapers occupy another niche and are aimed at fashion leaders living in major cities.

Fashion magazine Fashion Journal is a free quarterliy aimed at fashion-conscious young women.  Brisbane’s Map Magazine is distributed free directly to 40,000 households every month

Free to street publications make sense to advertisers looking for an alternative to mass media channels. With large circulations and close targeting by age, and location, Street Press advertising is highly relevant for companies seeking to maximise advertising ROI.

Students are busy  – most work part-time, an economic necessity and vital to getting a job after graduation.   Many classes are online, cheaper to deliver for cash-strapped unis and convenient for the ‘education consumer’.  In short, students are off-campus.  It has been a long time since the average student has had the time to enjoy the societies, newspapers and activities provided by student organisations.  The fact that these resources are fast disappearing has barely registered for the majority.

Students are on the bus, the train, the web, the beach, in the malls, in pubs and clubs, at their jobs and at their mates.  So  – how best to reach this most mobile of consumer group?   The demise of the student paper has seen the street press category resurgent.  Live music has made a comeback and street press titles provide the most comprehensive local What’s Oninformation to young readers across Australia.  Street press is easily available with free distribution via the venues frequented by the target audience.  It is a trusted medium; the big capital titles have been published since the eighties and are CAB-audited.  Perth’s Xpress magazine, published since 1985 has an audited circulation of 40,000 copies per week, the biggest in Australia.   New titles for regional centres such as Tasmania, Newcastle and the Sunshine Coast have successfully launched in the past few years.

University is a time of self-discovery, and students do not want to feel they are part of a production line. They want to be the first to hear something new, and to share this knowledge with their peers.    Community radio plays the new music first and early adopters (students fit this profile) reject the repetitive FM radio playlist.

I don’t really think in terms of students, says Celia Donovan, a former Marketing Manager for the University of New South Wales Student Union and now the Marketing Manager for Spots & Space, media representatives for street press nationally.   I think in terms of 18-25 year olds, typically living at home, who are working or studying, often doing both.  They meet at events, or online.  Marketers need to look at the community of interest, not where they study.  Street press and community radio catch this demographic on the move, and add valuable reach and relevance to national campaigns that can include ambient, experiential, online and mainstream media.

In terms of on-campus corporate marketing opportunities, O-Week remains a significant annual event that captures the attention of many students.  After that, events and activities are highly fragmented and tend to attract small numbers of the same students over and over throughout the year, according to Donovan.

It would be wrong to say the Federal Government’s VSU legislation is responsible for the death of campus life.  In truth, the ‘hollow’ campus has been a long time coming.  The process started with the introduction of HECS fees in 1989 – a move that made being a student a suddenly serious undertaking.  By 2005, when Voluntary Student Unionism legislation was passed, the majority of students were frankly relieved that student organisations could no longer collect their hefty annual levy.

Written by Celia Donovan - Former Marketing Manager and Commercial Services Manager for the University of New South Wales Student Union from (1999-2003)