Spring break is a time for relaxing, unwinding, and de-stressing after an increasingly hard second semester. College students all over flock to exotic locations like Miami, Daytona Beach, and Las Vegas, to spend their days drinking by the pool. With almost 1.5 billion college students checking in to destination resorts annually, it is no surprise that their arrival brings another type of presence: advertisers. Advertising to spring breakers is not new marketing, but a campaign that has flourished and adapted to the ever-changing young people.
Big companies like Coca-Cola and Axe will spend around $75 million dollars on advertising for spring break. Koozies, shot glasses, hats, Frisbee, and sunglasses are among many of the free giveaway items companies stamp with their logo then send off with the next young consumer. Free stuff has always been a sure way to leave a positive impression in a person’s mind. With the advance of technology came the advance of spring break advertising. With 92 percent of young people getting online every day, and 77% of those people using Snapchat every day, social media platforms have taken over with advertisements for spring break. Marketing for spring break requires out of the box thinking and creativity. It is aimed to implant a brand in that young college student’s mind, and then carry across to other consumers. While spring break advertising to college students is smart, companies may be missing out on a big opportunity by directing it all to that audience. In the last few years’ women ages 48-65 have been looking to escape the dreary winters for a sunny location of their own. Older women have been taking extended vacations in March, avoiding college destinations, and settling down in Europe for a week or two. Most women looking to take vacations at this time of year spend about $2,600, which is far more than the average broke college student. This new trend of vacationing has only grown in the past few years, which should encourage advertisers to expand their reach to all vacationers of this season. College students are younger and have greater influence through social media, but middle aged adults have deeper pockets. In every area of advertising the field has grown and adapted to changing conditions, it stays on top of trends to reach the outer circles of consumers. Adults taking their own spring break is a new area for advertisers to explore and take advantage of. After all, a 48-year-old woman is a lot more likely to leave behind a tip instead of a broken lamp.
-Eva Mewborn
IMC Hawks Blog 
This was a very insightful article that brought up points I hadn’t previously thought about, such as middle aged adults taking spring breaks away from college destinations. Advertisers are first to flock to easily accessible and highly used social media for advertising but if they advertised separately to both market audiences, they’d be even more profitable.
Such a good point! I know so many people (particularly women) mid 30’s-50’s who choose to get away around the same time. They are definitely dropping a few more dollars than I will be on my weekend away in Charleston. While you probably won’t reach most of this demographic on Instagram or Snapchat, you can reach them in a multitude of other ways, including Facebook for a lot of them. Developing a marketing strategy focused on this demographic could also help to increase the amount of them taking these vacations. If it was marketed to be as typical as a college spring break it could plant the idea in their heads.
I thought this article was very insightful and well-written, I had never considered a normal school break such as spring break such an important time to big brands for advertising, and it is interesting seeing things in this new light. I also think that companies could do better to target older audiences as well, and thought the points presented here were relevant and valuable.
I had never thought about advertising during spring break. Advertising to spring breakers is a great marketing strategy, because of their influence and position. Often people will travel different places for the holiday, giving them a wider audience to advertise to.