How do you do it? Big companies – including Apple, Reckitt Benckiser (maker of Clearasil and Strepsils), banks, and law and accountancy businesses – pay a few students to represent their brand at universities. This usually means putting up posters, running events and talking up the firm to fellow students.
Fred Coppin, 21, a fine arts student at Oxford Brookes, is a student brand manager (SBM) for Red Bull, the energy drink firm: "The work is varied but always fun. It can involve anything from giving away cans to working with the uni's elite athletes. To promote the Red Bull Music Academy Radio, I threw a massive party at my student house, getting the best DJs in town, and inviting all the cool kids on campus. We had to have security on the door as everyone wanted to come."
How much can you make? Law firms and their ilk tend to pay a fixed fee of about £200 a year for promotion work that includes "shout outs" about recruitment opportunities at lectures. Brand managers can expect about £7 an hour, working at least 10 hours a week. "You can work when you want and it's on campus, so it fits around uni," Coppin adds.
Pitfalls? Tough competition for a job. "The most annoying thing is everyone asking if I have vodka to go with the Red Bull I give out."
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
