Getting the Word Out

Every Monday and Thursday morning, scores of Harvard undergraduates wake up early to engage in the ritual of plastering the Yard with hundreds of eight and one-half by 11 inch pieces of colored paper. Armed with rolls of tape and stacks of paper, these students fight the cold and the wind to represent their student groups. They should all still be asleep.

There are around 200 clubs at Harvard, and they’re all fighting for the attention, support and participation of 6,400 undergraduates. The majority of these student groups spend most of their advertising efforts on postering. But the kiosks look more like abstract art than carriers of potentially useful information, and students generally ignore swarms of overlapping posters. On the Harvard campus, where clubs are generally trying to attract individuals to actual events—not just flash a brand name and hope the subconscious picks it up—I wondered if there were more effective ways to reach undergraduates.

There are.

Two weeks of calling randomly selected numbers out of the university telephone directory yielded 92 undergraduate responses to my telephone survey on Harvard student group advertising. I asked the students to rank 19 methods of advertising with the question: “How effective is each method at getting information to you, personally?”

The results indicate that the most effective methods of getting information to students do not require cash—only student time. Postering in the houses and the yard—which require money to print the posters—ranked ninth and tenth out of the 19 methods, respectively.

There is presently too much emphasis on printing and postering in the student group advertising game, and clubs should look towards new methods of advertising in the future.

The candidates for Undergraduate Council President are already searching for alternative methods. To prevent wealthier candidates from having an unfair advantage, the council gives each ticket $100 and prohibits spending more. For a college of 6,400 undergraduates, a presidential hopeful can devote only about a cent and a half to reach each student. On the other hand, the council places no limit on the number of labor hours that the campaigns can garner from their student supporters.

Student groups should take a hint from the council and turn to the more effective, labor intensive, methods of advertising.

A personal e-mail to an individual scored highest by far in my survey and was the only method out of 19 that didn’t receive a score of “not at all effective” from any of the respondents. Word of mouth—hearing about something from a friend over lunch, for example—came in second. Clearly, personalized messages—either on the phone, in person, on instant messenger or over e-mail—catch students’ attention.

Performance in a class—by an a capella group, for example—ranked third, followed by announcement in a class. It seems Harvard students enjoy being entertained, even by advertisements. Like e-mail and word of mouth, neither of these methods require spending cash.

In fact, e-mails to a club’s group list and table tent advertisements are both free and scored higher than the most effective method that requires cash—printing fliers and putting them into students’ university mailboxes, which came in eighth.

Recognizing that the time of busy Harvard students might be considered costly, skeptics might wonder whether the time intensive methods are really more cost effective. But if we consider student time to cost $10 an hour, then besides the personalized e-mail and word of mouth, the other four advertising methods listed above are still more cost effective in terms of “students reached per dollar” than anything that requires cash.

These non-monetary advertising methods are also more environmentally friendly. E-mails and vocal announcements don’t waste paper or create litter like handing out, or door-dropping, fliers.

A switch away from posters and towards these methods would also decrease the University resources spent clearing the kiosks and bulletin boards on Mondays and Thursdays and removing the renegade posters throughout the week. Recognizing the benefit of other advertising methods, the University should take steps to create an environment that is more accepting of alternative advertising methods. The University should encourage professors to allow announcements and performances before their classes begin, for example.

The survey results also encouraged clubs to stake out new methods of advertising and to differentiate themselves from the rest of Harvard’s clubs. A handful of students reported remembering Din and Tonic advertisements from years earlier because the group performed for the class in their tuxedoes and made the professor a gin and tonic while they sang.

Student groups should be more creative and Harvard should be more liberal about advertising methods on campus. For example, Harvard should change its policy to allow students to draw with chalk in front of the Science Center and Annenberg—where many groups presently announce shows, events or club meetings with posters and tape on the ground. Chalk advertisements have been very effective at other schools, including Wesleyan University, and would be more colorful, be cheaper for the student groups, create less garbage and be easier to clean—a little water washes the chalk away.

Between the student groups and the University, clubs should have an easier and less expensive time getting their word out to students. And undergraduates should be able to sleep a little later—at least two days a week.

Judd B. Kessler ’04 is an economics concentrator in Adams House. His column appears on alternate Tuesdays.