Type Private company Founded 2006 Website www.absnotebooks.com | Industry Media Headquarters Chicago, Illinois, USA | |
Products ABS Notebooks
allbystudents.com | ||
All By Students (ABS) Notebooks is a college marketing company that partners with universities across the United States to spearhead a free school supplies initiative for students.
Contents
Their flagship product, a free multi-subject notebook, is given to university students at the start of every semester. Full-page advertisements act as subject dividers that offer further discounts, thus subsidizing the notebooks for students. As of January 2009, the following brands have participated: 3M, AT&T, Blackberry, CDW, Dell, Dr. Pepper, STA Travel, Discover Card, Ford, GEICO, General Mills, ice.com, Idearc, Kraft, Monster, My Rich Uncle, P & G, Palm, RealNetworks, Saturn, Sears, STA Travel, NBA, Unilever, Vault.com, Volvo, Warner Bros, Western Union, Wrigley, and Yahoo.
The notebooks are designed to reflect the brand of the school distributing by adopting their colors and logo. The first eight pages include college-specific information such as campus maps, important telephone numbers, and academic calendars.
Beginnings
ABS was founded in 2006 by two students studying at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Their goal was to channel brand marketing dollars to products that benefit students and enhance the college learning experience.
Notebook Distribution
At the launch of the program in January 2007, 10,000 students received notebooks at Northwestern University. In fall 2008, ABS distributed notebooks at 65 campuses to 700,000 students. Campuses included Harvard, MIT, Penn State, University of Pennsylvania, Arizona State, California State University Long Beach, Clemson, North Carolina State University, and the University of Arkansas. In January 2009, over 1 million students received the notebooks on 100 campuses.[1]
Press
Business Press:
University Press:
allbystudents.com
In August 2008, ABS launched a student-focused website [2]. The site - an “unofficial guide to campus life” - is a forum for students to communicate with their peers by sharing knowledge about trends, discounts, services, and events. The site gives students the ability to interact with both students from their own school and students nationwide. ABS launched a revamped version of the site on January 5, 2009.
Defunct
Their last year of operation seems to have been 2009.
Their Facebook account is idle (most recent posting was November 12, 2010). The web domains allbystudents.com and absnotebooks.com both redirect to http://www.notetag.com/.