Food.com Aims Campaign at College Students

Restaurant takeout and delivery service Food.com launched a marketing program designed to reach college students where they live — on campus and online.

The program, which runs through December, includes a series of events, contests and promotions as well as consistent exposure on campus and on the Web. Spending was not disclosed.

The goals are two-fold, the company said, to build brand awareness for Food.com’s service, and to support its restaurant customers with activities that will raise their visibility and stimulate sales.

Throughout the fall, Food.com representatives will be handing out samples of local restaurant food on campus and during key campus events.

In addition to this and other on-campus promotional efforts, Food.com has teamed up with YouthStream Media Networks to implement an online and off-line advertising campaign. YouthStream will facilitate exposure for Food.com through flyers, postcards, posters and other non-traditional advertising vehicles.

The campaign also includes offering students various sweepstakes and special pricing on IBM products, including the IBM Aptiva, ThinkPad, WorkPad and educational software via a co-branded area on Food.com’s site.

“Today’s college students spend nearly $80 billion a year on goods and services, but are increasingly difficult to reach,” said Angela Wilson Gyetvan, vice president of marketing for Food.com. “They watch less television, listen to less radio and read fewer magazines than other population segments, so reaching them with our message required some ingenuity. Our goal is to integrate Food.com into campus life, so when they think about ordering out, they automatically get the job done online.”

Food.com has 12,000 participating restaurants nationwide and claims 550,000 members.