Media Analysis: Educational experience.

Brands trying to target students must consider both dedicated media and mass channels. Andy Fry reports.

It's September, and a wave of fresh recruits is about to hit Britain's colleges and universities. Two million people are going through higher education, a third of the UK's entire 18- to 24-year-old population. And the government wants to push that figure up to 50%.

In other words, students represent a huge slice of the youth market.

Anyone who overlooks them is missing out on a group that spends pounds 13bn a year. And imagine their spending potential when they get jobs.

As Vizeum chief strategy officer Malcolm Hunter points out: 'Students are much more part of mainstream youth culture than they used to be. If anything, the work and study distinction is less important than the difference between people who stay at home and people who leave home, since the latter are more likely to change their behaviour.'