Hothand Wireless is giving advertisers targeted exposure to the back-to-school college student market via a mobile advertising and coupons platform.

University Mobile Network will be used at 50 campuses this fall with a goal of 100 campuses and a student body of 2.5 million young adults. The University Mobile Network is sharing revenues with participating campuses and giving advertisers access to the coveted college student demographic.

"Our program is geared to the mobile Web and we believe it is truly the future of mobile marketing," said Tim Leets, chief marketing officer at Hothand, Mission Viejo, CA. "SMS can be too much information hitting the customer. With the mobile Web platform the audience gets access to information when they want it."

Hothand is a platform and application that is free for universities and college students. Sponsors and merchants subsidize the mobile network via banners and mobile coupon offers.

Students, like those at Arizona State University, UCLA and Cornell University, can sign up to receive messages and updates from their schools about recreational sports and other alerts.

The service combines the mobile Web with text messaging and email, allowing for students to be reached anywhere.

The platform provides universities with a vehicle to deliver timely information to the university community on their mobile phones.

The site's menu-driven mobile platform allows users to quickly and easily find what they need.
Advertisers are able to target consumers via banner ads and hot deals, which include mobile coupons and offers from local merchants trying to get their message to college students.

College students can search the Hothand Merchant Network for coupons and money-saving deals. For example, a student that is low on cash and is hungry can find a mobile coupon for a local restaurant.

Targeting college students via mobile is not something new since students are known for avid mobile usage.

In fact, Boost Mobile, the prepaid division of Sprint, teamed with Barnes & Noble to target college students, letting them add money to their account at the same time they buy textbooks (see story).

Barnes & Noble College Booksellers is now selling Boost Mobile Re-Boost Cards in many of its college bookstores on campuses across the United States.

"Basically there are two diff advertising elements," Mr. Leets said. "We offer banners for branding but they could be clickable, and have a click to call function.

"We also have another area called the hot deals section where local merchants can place mobile coupons and offers targeted at specific schools or regions," he said. "Advertisers can track their campaign and we have an administrative section."