Confessions of a Back-To-School Marketing Mom

Well I now have survived my first full week without our oldest daughter, Kelsey, at home and she survived her first full week as a freshman at NYU learning how to get around the campus as well as Manhattan. We dropped her off last Sunday along with many other parents across this country for freshman orientation week. Official classes started on Tuesday.

When we arrived in NYC I have to say that NYU was pretty well prepared. They had blocked off most of the parking places in front of the dorms and had traffic cops which allowed you to pull right up to unload. However, once uploaded, you had to move your vehicle out ASAP and then check out your options.

Next steps included signing up on a waiting list for a cart to put your stuff in and then waiting on a line that was out the door and down the street for the elevators. Since there was four of us and my daughter's room was only on the fourth floor we decided to skip the elevator line and instead carry her stuff up the stairs ourselves. On my first way up with stuff in tow I passed a mom who was walking up to the 12th floor! She said she had no choice but to do the elevators since they were 12 floors up!  I have to admit that my husband carried the majority of the heavy stuff up to her room which concerned me because it was your typical humid, NYC summer day.  Thank god he quit smoking last year and with the help of some water bottles that we brought with us, we're all still alive today.

Once the stuff was in the room we started unpacking and setting it all up. Now this was our first college move-in experience and even though I thought we were pretty much prepared and thought of everything, there were things we didn't. In old buildings, especially in Manhattan, you don't have many electrical outlets, so we needed more extension cords and power strips. Students today come with too many electronics...laptop computer, printer, TV, fridge, microwave, lamps, etc. One of her suite mates next door even brought a Wii!

The dorm does provide free cable TV hook-up, but it just so happened in our case that the box was on her roommates' side of the room. So we needed a really long TV cable to make it work! No way could we have known this before we came nor the fact that her roommate, who happens to be just from Long Island, would beat us to the move-in and get that side of the room.

Thank god for Kmart, which was just a few blocks from the dorm. My husband walked there to get the last minutes things that we needed and then had to go back out a second time. There was also a Radio Shack in the area so they got our business on trip #2.

Now Kmart and Bed Bath and Beyond are the two biggest retailers in the NYU area and they had a shuttle bus set up to take people back and fort on move-in day. Bed Bath and Beyond went another step further and hosted a party at their store that evening for all NYU students which they offered 20% off on their total purchase. The party latest till midnight that night and there were supposedly free snacks and other give-aways. I think this is a brilliant marketing promotion, however, my daughter didn't attend the party. By the time we left her she pretty much had everything she needed. Plus her particular college was hosting a party that night which she did attend. I did however see many families walking around that day with full Bed Bath and Beyond bags.

There was a joint online sweepstakes promotion targeted to college bound students called Shop Smart for College Sweepstakes sponsored by Bed Bath & Beyond and Staples that just ended yesterday on Sept. 2nd. They were offering a grand prize for students and another grand prize for parents.

We have been somewhat conservative with our spending all summer long as I believe most Americans have. But I have to say that over the past month we contributed quite a bit to the economy by just getting her ready for college. I'm not sure how most moms do it, but even with the best planning when it comes down to the final days you just start buying so that you have everything you can think of that she/he needs.

I was quite aware of the huge back-to-school marketing push this year that included many various promotions. We visited and bought from many different retailers, all who were marketing to the college-bound students. They included Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl's and Penny's. So, I don't think we missed giving some of our money to any of the big box retailers.

We received many direct marketing messages from these retailers, some that included a checklist of "stuff" college kids need. I'm not sure if that was really helpful to us parents or if it just added to the list of "stuff" my daughter felt she really needed.

Now next year I have to do this all other again with daughter #2, Alex, who is now a senior in high school. Classes started  yesterday for her along with most of the rest of the kids in this area that all went back to school. I think with her I'll hopefully be a little more marketing savvy this coming year when it's time to help her get ready to leave for college. Alex is much more easy-going that daughter #1, Kelsey, so it should be easier for that reason as well. Or will it? We'll see. Stay tuned.

Comments

[Donna DeClemente]

Thanks Dina for your insights and for helping me realize I'm not the only mom out there experiencing these emotions right now. I love your idea of the online ordering specific to a dorm room. I'm sure the retailer that could figure how to partner with some of the major colleges and launch a service like you describe could really reap some great business and make our lives so much easier as well. New roomates could get online together and easily figure out who's getting what so they coordinate their purchases. Hey, Wal-Mart, Target, you listening? We'll be glad to be your beta test.

[Dina Lynch Eisenberg]

I hear ya, sister. Two weeks ago-gosh the time flies- we packed up our eldest, our only girlie and moved her all the way to LA. It was an awkward trip metaphorically and physically.

We relied on the nearby Target for all the 'stuff'. The store was so packed with parents it was like an Occidental family reunion. It struck me as ironic we were working, trudging through the store, waiting on long lines, while she was having fun at orientation. Guess, I was the one that got schooled on what young adulthood is like these days.

Those checklists were available. Target even made some poor attempts at 'cool colors' for the bedding and room accessories. None of that was what I really wanted or needed. I tell you the retailer who provides an online ordering process by school that shows me the room layout, lets me order in advance and delivers it directly to the room (thankfully she's on the second floor) will get my undying gratitude and my business.

Our boy is heading into his junior year..so as Arnold says, 'We'll be back'.

Thanks for sharing what must be a universal experience.

Dina Lynch Eisenberg
This Marriage Thing