Samsung looks to charge-up college campuses

BOULDER, Colo. – College campuses have begun a prime target for the wireless industry as it looks to get the youth of today hooked on a specific wireless service or device. While campuses have tried to keep the outright advertising to its students to a minimum, some in the industry have managed to come up with programs that not only allow them to spread their name around the student body, but to also provide a service to those students.
The latest to tackle this opportunity is Samsung Telecommunications America, which this week visited the University of Colorado, Boulder campus touting its new charging stations located across the campus. Similar to stations popping up at airports all over the world, the campus charging stations include multiple electrical outlets designed to allow students to charge up their mobile devices at a central location rather than scrounging to find an outlet hidden along a wall.
In addition to the embedded outlets, the stations include an encased display where the company could show off its latest devices, in this case its Omnia II smartphone.
Samsung said it plans to have charging stations across 15 college campuses by the end of this year and across 50 schools by next May. At the CU-Boulder campus, Samsung had five stations spread across the campus, including in libraries and student centers. For the launch, Samsung had reserved a room in the campus’ University Memorial Center that included a DJ spinning tunes and chairs set up for free massages. Samsung also had hired people slightly underdressed for the near-zero degree temperatures blanketing the area to hand out flyers to students on the location of the charging stations.
Other campuses scheduled for the stations include San Diego State University, Texas Tech University, The University of Texas at Dallas, Northern Iowa University, The University of New Mexico, The University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, The University of Miami and Louisiana Tech.
Bobby Billman, VP of channel marketing at Samsung Mobile, said the stations are a great way for the company to bolster its image amongst the 18- to 34-year-old demographic as well as build on the company’s position as the top-selling handset maker in the U.S.
“This is just a natural extension for our marketing plans and really targets the sweet spot of the age demographic we are trying to attract,” Billman said.
Billman added that the colleges have been very easy to partner with on the initiative as it allows them to provide additional services to their students at little cost.
In addition to the college campus program, Samsung Mobile said it has installed more than 300 branded charging stations in 10 of the nation’s busiest airports including Miami International Airport, Houston InterContinental Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Orlando International Airport and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, which are accessible to more than 395 million passengers.