5 Back-to-School Advertising Tips: August 2022

While parents, kids, and coeds are thinking more about the last remaining weeks of summer vacation, brand marketing execs are gearing up back-to-school initiatives. Now’s the time to “stock up” on your back-to-school media prospect list. To help you plan your outreach accordingly, here are a few tips for identifying advertisers likely to spend the most advertising dollars this back-to-school season.

1. Target key business categories

Big box stores, personal electronics manufacturers, and office supply brands are more likely to market back-to-school offerings than tourism boards or hospitals. Zeroing in on high-value categories will bring more relevant B2B sales and partnership opportunities to the surface. Key verticals for back-to-school advertising include:

Apparel & accessories

• ​7 For All Mankind: Provides denim jeans and accessories for men, women, and kids. Products are sold through luxury retail stores and high-end specialty boutiques.
• ​Free People: Operates under Urban Outfitters Inc., offering apparel through stores, wholesale, websites, and catalogs.
• ​K-Swiss: Designs and manufactures athletic footwear for sports and casual wear, available in retail stores worldwide.

Other categories include:

• ​Consumer electronics & personal computers
• ​Office supplies & office supply retailers
• ​Education & learning
• ​Sporting goods and sporting goods retailers
• ​Home-related décor and appliance brands (especially affordable brands targeting college students moving into dorms or off-campus housing)

2. Target key marketing decision-makers

The contacts responsible for back-to-school advertising campaigns might not have “back-to-school” in their job titles. To identify decision-makers most likely to target school-aged children, search by job function such as "Youth Marketing" and pair with relevant industries for a hyper-targeted prospect list. Key decision-makers include:

• ​Carmen Hardaway, Director, Product – Apparel Energy Concepts, Reebok Kids: Oversees athletic shoes, apparel, and gear for Reebok and related brands.
• ​Andrea Pappenheimer, SVP, Director, Sales & Associate Publisher, HarperCollins: Manages sales and publishing for a major book publisher.
• ​John Baadilla, Marketing Youth & Education Services Manager, National Hot Rod Association: Manages youth and education marketing for the NHRA.

3. Identify upcoming back-to-school campaigns

The back-to-school advertising season is crowded, and advertisers plan earlier each year. Monitoring industry news and searching for keywords like “back to school” can help uncover new campaign opportunities.

Example: PacSun's 2022 Back-to-School Campaign

PacSun launched its “#MyDenimStory” campaign for the 2022-2023 school year, introducing over 200 new denim styles. The campaign is supported by digital ads and social channels such as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Discord, and includes partnerships with content creators and brand ambassadors. PacSun also collaborated with DRESSX for a virtual try-on experience and created activations in the Metaverse, such as the Denim Shop in PACWORLD on Roblox.

• ​PacSun mainly targets female Gen-Zers through digital display ads and social media, with increased ad spend in recent years. The company also invests in OOH, print, and local broadcast TV ads.
• ​Agencies and martech providers should continue pitching services, especially those that can help PacSun reach Gen-Z audiences. PacSun recently appointed Tinuiti as its paid media agency of record.

4. Focus on shopper marketing

Even if you sell radio or television advertising, consider targeting advertisers with shopper marketing initiatives. Brands using couponing efforts and FSIs are likely to be targeting back-to-school shoppers, offering additional partnership opportunities.

5. Utilize sales intelligence to do the heavy lifting for you

If you’re interested in generating leads with back-to-school advertisers but lack a source of credible sales intelligence, consider using a sales intelligence platform to generate a list of highly targeted back-to-school advertising sales leads.