The United States spent around $176 billion dollars on advertisements in 2014, and consumers are estimated to view an average of 247 advertisements daily, according to statistica.com.
Budweiser cutouts can be seen in the Nugget Pub and Grill Toyota frequents Week of Welcome each semester and athletic fields on campus are surrounded by billboards.
The University Student Union, the Forty-Niner Shops and the Long Beach State Department of Athletics on campus are the three main entities in charge of deciding which companies advertise on campus.
Kierstin Stickney, the director of marketing and communications at the Forty-Niner Shops, said when choosing which brands will be sold in the university bookstore, buyers attend tradeshows and decide from there to whom they will permit advertisement and sale space.
“Many of the brands we sell in the store are companies that we have had relationships with for a long time and do well with our customer base,” Stickney said.
Forty-Niner Shops runs other locations such as the Nugget Pub and Grill, the Beachwalk Café in the University Dining Plaza, Starbucks in the University library and concessions in the Walter Pyramid.
Headed by Associated Student Inc., the University Student Union delegates which companies are represented inside the building. Iraida Venegas, the associate director for commercial business operations for the USU, said that if a vendor has interest to be in the building, the USU would send a request for proposal, an RSP.
“The RSP will have different information,” Venegas said. “It will have requirements [from the university], what the school is looking for and deadlines.”
The Service Committee, a subcommittee of the USU Board of Trustees, will oversee proposals. After more paperwork and viewing presentations from possible vendors, the service committee will make recommendations to the BOT, who will then finalize the decision.
Tony Soares, the general manager at Beach Sports Properties, works to sell the resources of the CSULB athletics department, such as stadium signage. He said he works with potential brands to see if there is an agreement in terms of sponsoring or partnering up with the LB athletics department.
“We contact them, set up a meeting and see if there is interest in partnering with the Athletic Department,” Soares said. “We use our common sense when approaching potential sponsors.”
Other official partners of the department are Legends Sports Bar, Chipotle and LuxBus America.
According to a LuxBus testimonial on the LBSU website, Matt Brown, president of LuxBus America, said working with LBSU has been like “a partnership.”
“The level of commitment by the Athletic Department to provide opportunity for new business and revenue opportunities has helped [LuxBus grow],” Brown said.