What Is a Campus Rep?

If you want to get your brand noticed by college students, or if you want to just have some eyes and ears among a younger audience, hire a Campus Rep.

With the time and ability to reach nearly every group of students on campus, college students can often be the most efficient way to get your message heard quickly and scalably. All you have to do is hire some Campus Reps!

First things first… What’s the difference between a Campus Rep and a Campus Ambassador?

Nothing! In fact, there are a number variations of this job title, including:

• Campus Rep(representative)
• College Rep
• Campus Ambassador
• Student Rep
• Student Ambassador
• Campus Marketing Manager
• Campus Field Leader
• …and the list goes on!

So why do college students even want to be Reps?

First of all, it’s a nice boost to their resume. Especially when a business is willing to write a letter of recommendation for a student (which is a highly valued prize for people with minimal work experience), many students in this day and age claim to have their Campus Rep job be the first job they’ve ever held!

Next, it can often be a good money making venture. Turns out, lots of companies (especially startups) pay campus reps on a performance basis. So if a student truly believes in a brand and has enough friends who also believe, then they can make some good money quickly!

And, of course, it’s just a good experience! We’ve seen BioMed majors take on a campus rep job and decide to become Marketing majors! Many college students love having varied experiences so they can figure out “what to do with their lives”, and they often know that Campus Rep jobs are the way to go if you want on-the-ground marketing + communications experience.

What do Campus Reps typically do day-to-day?

Most importantly, they live your brand every day. Being a Campus Rep actually keeps college students quite busy. They spend their days collaborating with other reps, planning and organizing events, and organizing guerrilla marketing brand campaigns for you. They engage in multiple activities, from designing posters to attending parties and providing giveaways, to promoting the brand face-to-face and via social networking. Campus Reps are responsible for identifying partnerships with local bars, clubs, restaurants, and shops for promotional purposes. They also build databases and write reports, capturing the details of their work and submitting it for evaluation. They communicate!!

Here are some examples of companies with Campus Reps, and what the Campus Rep’s main responsibility is:

• Teach For America: recruit more seniors to apply for TFA jobs
• Google: promote new product releases, and give out free swag
• Anheuser-Busch InBev: host philanthropic events on the company’s behalf (“Don’t drink and drive!”), and recruit mechanical engineering students to work for AB.
• Red Bull: tell the Wings team which parties to crash (to give out free Red Bull)
• WayUp: get friends and colleagues to sign-up for WayUp, and throw guerrilla marketing events throughout campus (like flash mobs!)

Do you need advice or tips on running your own Rep program? WayUp offers consultations to employers.