Top-of-the-line Highlighter Spreads Positive Word-of-mouth and Attracts More Participation in Free Tutoring program at the University of Colorado at Boulder

Challenge: To meet student and tutor requests for a better highlighter—and to increase foot traffic in the tutoring office.

“Wow, where’dja get that pen?” Thanks to a promotional incentive campaign sponsored by the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Academic Support Assistance Program (ASAP), such is the question on increasingly more and more lips of students living in residence halls. The University offers free small-group and drop-in tutoring to on-campus dwellers; of roughly 6,000 students living on campus, 1,200 now take advantage. Wanting to further spread the word about the free tutoring services, the ASAP team had, in the past, worked with ePromos’ Promotions Specialist Jason Wallace to procure logoed highlighters.

The team recently called on Jason again to replenish their supply, but this time they wanted something different, something better, based on feedback from the last campaign. While tutors and students found the old highlighter useful—no student has ever made it through college without yellowing at least one meaningful phrase!—they also said they wished for different colors and thicker ends.

Solution: A high-end writing instrument with an ink pen at one end, a bold and thick highlighter at the other.

That’s why, this time, the ASAP team selected the slim roller/highlighter combo pen, a sleek and comfortable promotional pen with a translucent barrel, silver wrap and black and gray accents. One side is a smoothly flowing black roller-ball ink pen, the other a chisel point liquid highlighter in a choice of six neon colors—the ASAP team picked neon pink. Even better, a yellow spring hidden inside the pen cap prevents the highlighter ink from drying.

Result: High word-of-mouth, more foot traffic, an A+ promotion.

When the pens arrived, the ASAP team gave several to each of their 65 tutors, who then hand out the pens to help promote the free tutoring program. The overall tutor/student response has been great, typically along the lines of “I can’t believe you’re giving these out for free!” This also translates to higher than ever positive word-of-mouth among students, and more new faces in the ASAP tutoring offices. We at ePromos call that an A+ promotion!

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University of Colorado at Boulder Highlighter/Pen Program Recruitment (PDF Version)