Brand Reps: Not Your Father's College Job

On-campus student sales reps are taking on real-world responsibilities for their employers

By Dan Macsai

On a sunny afternoon last spring, JJ Anthony leapfrogged across the University of Pennsylvania campus. As collegiate stunts go, this one was a pretty tame: There was no alcohol, nudity, or avant garde political agenda—just a 21-year-old with a megaphone, hopping over a string of eager accomplices.

It was "really fun,"Anthony recalls. It was also a marketing ploy.

As he hopped through campus, Anthony, a senior communication major with a concentration in business, trumpeted the launch of Radar.net, a photo-sharing service for mobile-phone users. Meanwhile, his friends tossed promotional fliers and T-shirts to nearby students. "Check it out," they urged. "You're gonna love it."

Like a growing number of U.S. millennials studying marketing and/or business, Anthony is a "campus ambassador." For several hours a week, he works with San Francisco's Tiny Picture, the technology firm that developed Radar. His duties are diverse, ranging from brainstorming new marketing tactics to boosting brand awareness (hence the leapfrogging).

Walking Taller

Almost every decent-sized company, from Apple (AAPL) to ZipCar, employs several campus ambassadors; their mere existence is nothing new. But as college-aged consumers become increasingly elusive (BusinessWeek.com, 8/22/08), more of these student employees—once relegated to passing out free pizza and product samples—are watching their roles expand.

At Tiny Pictures, campus ambassadors are "an integral part" of the company, says Ian Jeffrey, vice-president for marketing and communications. Last year, all 14 were flown to San Francisco for a corporate conference, where they helped revamp Radar's interface. During school, they routinely chat with senior executives, including CEO John Poisson, to discuss possible new features.

Recently, several ambassadors suggested that Radar users be able to make all their photos public (as opposed to friends-only) by default. The idea was implemented within weeks, and Jeffrey readily credits ambassadors for its success. Adds Anthony, who was part of the effort: "I feel like an actual employee."

Sun Microsystems (JAVA) in Santa Clara, Calif., takes a similar approach. To promote the brand, its ambassadors organize Sun-sponsored activities and start clubs centered on open-source technology. They also maintain blogs, which detail everything they've done on campus.

Fixing a Software Bug

But Sun ambassadors also expected—and encouraged—to critique old programs and develop new software. Experience level notwithstanding, they have produced results that rival those of their superiors, says Joe Hartley, vice-president for global government, education, and health care. Last year, for example, a student fixed a software bug in OpenSolaris, one of Sun's new operating systems. For weeks, the glitch had stumped professional programmers.

—College students just don't think: 'This won't work,'" Hartley explains. "They're willing to take fresh, new approaches, and we really appreciate that." Accordingly, Sun's 500-student ambassador program more than tripled in size this year.

StudentUniverse, the online ticket retailer, also expanded its program. This year, the Waltham (Mass.) company welcomed roughly 300 ambassadors, up 300% from 2007.