Best Back to School Marketing Campaigns

Parents love it. Kids dread it. What else could it be but… back to school?! The Summer holidays are well underway, which means that with September right around the corner, many businesses have major marketing opportunities within their reach. There’s a bit of time to think about how you can target this young demographic to get them excited about putting their school blazer back on, so we thought we’d help you out by showing you three examples from some amazing brands and how they promoted the start of another school year.

Staples

Staples, the stationary brand, supported educated by creating the #StaplesForStudents campaign which offered students the chance to win one of two prizes when they made a purchase:
1) Win a trip to meet Katy Perry in Los Angeles
2) Win a trip to meet Katy Perry and receive a £38720 ($50000) scholarship for their University
As well as this amazing competition, Staples also teamed up with DonorsChoose.org in order to create more support for teachers and students. Staples pledged $1million to DonorsChoose and encouraged other people to donate. We love this campaign because it clearly shows that Staples care about education and the welfare of teachers and students and are not just trying to be overly consumerist.

Victoria’s Secret

The lingerie brand launched a ‘college’ and University inspired collection under their PINK branch in 2010 and is now hosting ‘Campus Showdowns’ whereby one campus every year is chosen to host a PINK party. The winning campus is chosen through an online voting system – a smart move considering the digital world we live in. The Campus Showdown is promoted through social media and by using lots of hashtags and likes. The social engagement that Victoria’s Secret receives during this time is really through the roof, making them the ‘real’ winner.

Kleenex

Yes, we’re serious, Kleenex tissues can be associated with going back to school. Kleenex launched their ‘Commitment to Care’ – although we think ‘Kommitment to Kare’ would have worked just as well – which was focused around a video they created showing real students discussing their feelings about entering secondary school. Whilst Kleenex tissues are present in the video, the main focus is on the children and how they come to understand that they are all facing the same fears. Whilst this isn’t your traditional marketing campaign, it definitely handled a delicate situation in a memorable way.

Which campaign was your favourite? Most major back-to-school campaigns are often launched in the US, so could your company bring a viral back-to-school campaign to the UK?