National Association of College Stores

National Association of College Stores
500 East Lorain Street
Oberlin, OH 44074-1294
440-775-7777
[www.nacs.org]
Contact: Laura Nakoneczny



CEO: Brian E. Cartier, CAE
Budget: $15 Million
Staff Size:83

Plexus Consulting Group, LLC
1620 Eye Street, NW
Suite 210
Washington, DC 20006
Phone:  202-785-8940
Fax:      202-785-8949
Email:   info@plexusconsulting.com

Vital Stats:

The National Association of College Stores' (NACS) membership includes 2,800+ college store members and 1,000 associate members. NACS member stores account for 56% of all college stores and serve the vast majority of America's 15 million college students.

The Challenge | The Solution | The Process |Unintended Consequences | Unforseen Benefits | Measurements & Results | Lessons Learned

The Challenge

How to promote an industry facing unprecedented and aggressive online market competition?

NACS' "advocacy" initiative grew in part from an increasingly competitive market as online-only textbook sellers began to aggressively advertise and target directly to NACS members' customers. The college store industry had never been required to advocate on its own behalf and was "under siege" for the first time in its history.

The Solution

NACS launched a bold series of public affairs and marketing initiatives to give voice to the college store industry.

To avoid potential policy conflicts with the higher education institutions, the NACS advocacy campaign had nothing to do with retail industry lobbying. Instead, it was concerned with image and perception management. During the last two years, NACS launched multiple rounds of publicity initiatives to address the misperception being put forth by the new online competition.

The Process

"A whole new way of thinking."

The NACS advocacy program embodied a series of public affairs and marketing initiatives to give voice to the college store industry.

The three-pronged campaign designed to combat online market competition included:

• Marketing and publicity kits for member stores' use
  
• An aggressive litigation strategy intended to balance the competitive playing field for member stores
  
• A national public relations campaign to provide the public with the "real facts" about buying textbooks online

Marketing and Publicity Kits
Responding to the "loudest voices"- those members whose stores were facing direct competition from online competitors - NACS immediately developed grassroots tools and materials member stores could use to compete with the slick, professionally produced ad campaigns embraced by online-only stores. NACS outsourced the development of this publicity campaign to an agency. The key deliverable(s) included camera-ready ad slicks, press release templates, copy for classified ads and radio spots, and camera-ready artwork for common college store items like bookmarks, table tents, and java jackets.

At this early stage, members were too close to the issues to provide objective input. The rush to meet members' perceived needs almost precluded the ability to do so. Although half of the membership favored the ad campaign, NACS decided that a more positive approach was needed to turn the membership away from a reactive towards a more positive and proactive campaign.

Initially, the NACS campaign focused on "don'ts." "Don't take the bait, don't be duped…" Four months following the launch of the campaign, NACS changed course to deliver a more positive message. NACS research showed that students really valued the service and convenience provided by their college stores. Members ultimately embraced the proactive attempt to establish a college store identity and the public affairs team followed through with new tools, additional guidance and a successful new direction. As the campaign progressed, NACS was forced to seek a larger, more experienced agency for future guidance. An RFP for a new agency was circulated during the summer 2000.

Litigation
In late 1999, NACS issued a lawsuit against VarsityBooks.com, a major online competitor for college stores, charging it with false and misleading advertising claims, which touted 40% discounts on textbooks and implied that students are being 'gouged' at their campus bookstores. NACS successfully settled the suit in October 2000, with VarsityBooks.com's agreement to abide by NACS-supported advertising guidelines.

NACS also sent strongly worded letters to other online competitors challenging them on misleading advertising practices. Two of these competitors were eventually pursued through the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau where NACS' complaints were settled.

The lawsuit and other challenges received significant coverage by the press and allowed NACS a unique opportunity to re-position the college bookstore industry in the publics' mind.

Press Campaign
NACS also launched a press campaign aimed at educating students and other audiences about the realities of textbook costs and the challenges inherent in providing course content to college students. Key messages of this campaign included findings from various NACS' research projects. Chief among these was the message that "nobody makes money selling textbooks to college students." On average, NACS member stores only realize 4-cents profit for every dollar in textbook sales.

The campaign generated more than 250 news stories in publications ranging from the LA Times to the Washington Post. Even more stories were generated in publications that typically cover the industry and higher education. It's estimated that more than 5 million readers were reached with positive "impressions" of NACS through this campaign.

Resources
The bulk of NACS' advocacy effort is generated in-house, and was initially managed with limited resources -- one full-time public relations executive, now supported by a full-time assistant and an outside PR/advertising agency. NACS allocated $250,000 in investment income for the advocacy initiative during 2000, following a $100,000 budget allocation in 1999. Litigation was funded separately.

NACS is actively collecting data to determine the success of its advocacy effort. Focus groups and committees are being convened to provide feedback, determine what is working and what could be working better. However, NACS is a few years from being able to assess its overall impact.

Preliminary results include:

• Unprecedented national news coverage
  
• Increased textbook sales among NACS bricks-and-mortar stores, despite the growth of the online competition
  
• Enhanced perception of college bookstores by campus administrators, students and others who have gained a better understanding of the industry

Measurements & Results

All signs point to the disintegration of the Dot.com competition, which appears to be abandoning the textbook market, providing NACS with a further opportunity to enhance its image and marketing tools to reach a wider audience. As of spring 2001, none of the major three Dot.com competitors to NACS members remained as a threat to the industry.

Lessons Learned

Key lessons to be drawn from NACS' advocacy initiative include:

• The importance of conveying a positive campaign
  
• The key to a successful advocacy campaign is flexibility, the ability to process feedback and to respond quickly
  
• Informal processes, such as task groups and ad hoc advisory committees, work best

NACS learned that it couldn't "be afraid to provide leadership and guidance to its members. Hesitation is not an option." Without a committee to slow the works, NACS staff had the ability to "change on a dime." The informal process allows for quick and flexible maneuvering.

"An old world industry shaken up by the new millennium."

Over the long-term, private leasing companies, whose subsidiaries often provide e-commerce solutions, still pose a significant threat to the college store. As contract management and leasing companies take over institutional college stores, participation by "institutional store" members, NACS largest membership segment, has begun to decline. Retail managers without book-buying savvy are replacing skilled college store personnel at an accelerating pace. The financial incentives to lease are significant, and leasing officers present persuasive arguments focused on profits and renovation to campus business officers, who have no particular loyalty to the college store. NACS is continually challenged to respond and to provide members with a "safe haven" from which to confront and manage change.