Advertising an event
ou are finally done planning your event. The DJ has been booked, food has been ordered and all the forms have been filled out through ODUS. Now, how do you get people to show up to your event? On this page, you can find various resources to get the word out. You can direct your ad campaign to target just Princeton students or to the entire Princeton community.
Posters
Posters and flyers are a cheap and an easy way to get the word out about your event to a mass audience. There are some rules and regulations regarding where you can post flyers and posters on campus.
- Where to post flyers: Bulletin boards in dorm entryways, food services units, academic and administration buildings and outdoor kiosks, lampposts, and other bulletin boards around campus.
- Where NOT to post flyers: When posting flyers and posters, please respect University property. Do not place flyers on buildings, chain link fences, wood paneling, benches, sidewalks, roadways, the natural landscape (i.e. trees and grass) and any location not in the above list of approved locations. For more information, please see page 6 of Rights, Rules, Responsibilities.
- It is not permitted to chalk the campus.
- Please note that groups who do not comply with these rules may be reported to ODUS. If a group is found to be in violation of these rules, they may be assigned to work hours with the Department of Building and Grounds. During these assigned work hours, groups will assist Buildings and Grounds staff in maintaining campus grounds.
- Too busy to go around campus and hang up posters? The Princeton University Publicity Agency provides several services ranging from mail box stuffing to door to door delivery to hanging up posters around campus. For additional information go to the Agency Website.
On-campus resources
- You: Word of mouth is the best way to inform people of your event, so make sure to tell your friends and classmates what exciting event your student organization has planned.
- Point: Point is a Web portal created and designed by students that lists everything from upcoming events to the best places to eat in town. Student groups can list events, study breaks, etc., by visiting the Point Web site and clicking on Submit an Event. (Note: You will be asked for a user id and password). You can also have a poster for your event posted on the Bottomless Lamppost. This is a great place to have your poster put on public display without having to worry about it getting destroyed by the rain or blown away by the wind. In order to do this, you will have to have a jpeg file of your poster to submit.
- Events list: Each Monday afternoon when classes are in session, all undergraduate and graduate students will receive an e-mail listing of events on campus. All advertisements for University-sponsored events must be received no later than the Saturday preceeding the Monday mailing. Please e-mail all ads to events@princeton.edu.
- Announcement page: Let people who visit the Princeton University home page know about your event by posting it on the Announcements section. To request that your event be listed, visit the Announcements form and fill it out completely.
- McCosh Walk banner: Student organizations are allowed to have banners hung over McCosh Walk advertising their events. To reserve space, a student must come into the ODUS office at 313 West College and fill out a Banner Request form. Due to the limited number of wires, an organization can only have a banner up for four days within a two-week period.
- E-mail lists: Students are encouraged to use group e-mail lists to let their fellow students know about upcoming events.
- The Daily Princetonian: The Daily Princetonian, aka “The Prince,” is a daily newspaper published by Princeton students. The print edition has a circulation of about 6,000 and the Web site is visited by about 1,400 people a day. To advertise on the Prince’s Web site please e-mail your ad as a Word or PDF file. To advertise in the print edition, please e-mail business@dailyprincetonian.com. To get a rate quote, please call the office at: (609) 258-8110. Business hours are Sunday through Friday, 1:30-5 p.m. Print ads are due by 3 p.m. two business days before the desired publication date.
- Nassau Weekly: is a student-run newspaper published every Thursday with a circulation of about 6,300. Please call or e-mail no later than the Friday before the desired publication date to reserve an ad space. Advertisements must be received no later than 5 p.m. the Monday before the desired publication as a .pdf, .tiff, .jpg or MSWord document (.pdf preferred). The contact person for 2006 is Becky Gidel or you can send a general inquiry by e-mail. The following is a general list of rates for running an ad.
- WPRB 103.3: Princeton University’s student-run radio station. With 15,000 square miles of coverage, WPRB can be heard from Philadelphia to the outskirts of New York City. To get ad rates and other details, you can either call the sales department at (609) 258-3656 or reach them by e-mail.
- Other publications: Princeton University has several magazines that accept advertising. Two of these magazines are Tiger Magazine (The Princeton Tiger) and American Foreign Policy.
- Attention Princeton student-run publications: If your publication offers advertising and is not listed here, please send an e-mail to Jeanette Deguire to have your group added to the site.
- Academic departments: Contact the academic department administrator should your event have a corresponding interest with that department. Example: Your organization is bringing in a speaker who will talk about Frank Lloyd Wright, so you could contact the School of Architecture’s departmental coordinator about the event.
- Lewis Center Arts Calendar: http://www.princeton.edu/arts/events/calendar/
- Princeton Alumni Weekly (P.A.W.): The Princeton Alumni Weekly is an independent, nonprofit magazine that records news of the alumni as well as covers some of the current news happening at Princeton University. For more information on advertising rates, publication schedule and submission dates, please visit their Web site and click on "Advertising Info" located on the left-hand side of the page. Contact Beth Perrino either by e-mail or by phone: 609-258-4886.
Beyond FitzRandolph Gate
- Press Releases: Before you advertise your event off campus, either in the form of paid advertisements or press releases, please notify the Office of Communications. This office will assist you in managing your interactions with off-campus media.
- Town Topics: Published every Wednesday, Town Topics has a circulation of about 14,000. This publication, free to the public, is probably the best place to advertise your event throughout Princeton. Submissions for ads are due by the Friday before the desired publication date and can be sent to art@towntopics.com as a Word or PDF file. For more information on advertising rates and deadlines please visit the advertising and rates portion of their Web site. The advertising contact is Reilly Lamarche, who can be reached at (609) 924-2200, ext. 11.
- The Princeton Packet: The Packet is published Tuesdays and Fridays and has a circulation of about 9,461. Submission for ads in the Tuesday edition must be in by Friday at noon, submission of ads for the Friday edition must be in by Tuesday at 4 p.m. Please visit the advertising rates and submission deadline portion of their Web site or call (609) 924-3244 for more information.
- U.S. 1: Distributed to businesses throughout the area, U.S. 1 is published every Wednesday and has a circulation of about 19,000. Ads are due via e-mail the Friday before the desired publication date. Please contact Martha Moore at (609) 452-7000.
- The Princeton Business Journal: The Princeton Business Journal is published every Tuesday and Thursday by the same group that publishes the Princeton Packet, but is geared more towards the business community. Submissions for ads are due by Wednesday the week before the ad is to run by 5 p.m. Please visit the advertising rates and deadlines portion of their Web site or call (609) 924-3244 for more information.
- Community Outreach: Area schools, churches and nursing homes are great places to go if you want to have members of the community attend the event. However, please make sure that the event is appropriate for that group of people. For instance if your group is bringing in an author of a book popular among high school students, it would be a good idea to invite some of the area high schools. If your group was inviting an author who wrote a book about atheism, inviting the local churches would not be advisable.
- Don't forget about posters: The area around the campus when putting up posters for a big event. Area businesses that have public message boards:
Small World Coffee, 14 Witherspoon St.
Panera Bread, 134 Nassau St.
Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon St.
Two public kiosks on Nassau Street, one by Garden Theatre and one by Bank of America.
Some businesses may allow certain groups to post events in their stores. Make sure to ask the owner or manager before posting.