Brand Reps: Not Your Father's College Job

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Their chief tasks are promotional. Examples include talking up low ticket prices and raising brand awareness via Facebook and MySpace (NWS). Yet ambassador input carries more weight than in years past, says Atle Skalleberg, vice-president for marketing at StudentUniverse. "We need these kids," he explains. "They understand their peers a lot better than we do."

Word of Mouth

Every day, college students view hundreds of advertisements, most of which they ignore—or speed through, if they're using a TiVo. If a message comes from a classmate, however, it's more likely to resonate, says Rodney Ferguson, a marketing exec at Lipman Hearne, which has represented more than 200 colleges and universities. "Young adults are fanatics about authenticity," he explains. "If they like a person, and that person likes a product, they'll give that product a chance."

Last year, overall spending on such word-of-mouth marketing surged past $1 billion in the U.S., according to findings from PQ Media. By 2012, that number should quadruple. Leo Kivijarv, vice-president for research at PQ Media, estimates that college markets make up at least 15% of those lofty figures.

Thus far, they've been worthwhile investments. After hiring campus ambassadors at the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, Tiny Pictures watched Los Angeles rocket from its seventh-largest Radar Market to its largest. Skalleberg also reports a "huge" increase in brand awareness among the 90 campuses with StudentUniverse ambassadors.

Sun's Hartley suggests an alternative benefit. "A lot of our ambassadors go on to work at other prominent tech companies," he says. "When they do, they bring knowledge of Sun with them," which might encourage the firms to use Sun software.

JOB PROSPECTS

Fiscally, these gigs don't cover tuition. In fact, with pay scales ranging from $50 a week (Tiny Pictures) to $16 an hour (Sun Microsystems), they barely cover the cost of a couple textbooks.

But Will St. Clair, a second-year Sun Microsystems ambassador and junior at the University of Texas-Austin, is chasing more than cash rewards. He revels in his responsibilities, which pair nicely with his advertising major. He also says he's "way more involved" than his ambassador friends, who represent Microsoft and Dell (DELL). "They're employed by [third-party brand rep agencies], not actual companies,"he explains. "They're curtained off in their own world."

Patricia Rose, director of career services at Penn, says dedicated ambassadors could get "a huge leg up" in the job search, especially if they're pursuing a career in marketing, advertising, or brand management. Sun wouldn't divulge specific hiring figures, but according to a company spokesperson, "a number of ambassadors" have accepted full-time positions. Tiny Pictures and StudentUniverse made similar claims.

That's good news for St. Clair and Anthony, who are both hoping their ambassadorships turn into full-time jobs after graduation. Until then, St. Clair will take solace in smaller perks. "My badge opens doors at headquarters," he says. "Pretty legitimate, right?"

Macsai is a writer for BusinessWeek.