Back-to-school gets most of the planning attention in August. On a semester calendar, students go through a second start in January: the spring semester typically begins in mid to late January and runs through May. New term, new classes, and a new round of course materials and supplies to buy.
For brands, that makes January a second back to school. Here is how to plan for it.
Why the first weeks of spring matter
Students need their course materials early. In the NACS Faculty Watch report published in February 2026, almost all faculty said students first have to use their book in the first (73%) or second (20%) week of class. So students need their materials within the first two weeks of term.
Much of that buying happens through the campus store. NACS's Student Watch report for 2025-26 found that 62% of students who buy course materials buy at least some of them from their campus store, and more students bought from the campus store online than in person. The same survey put student tech spending at $546 for the year.
On Follett's campus store websites, the textbooks page draws 0.5 to 5.6 million monthly views, and across the network Follett counts 61M+ annual site visits and 9M+ in-store and online transactions a year.
Choose the schools that matter to the brand
A spring campaign does not have to run everywhere. FMN offers school-level targeting for programmatic display, both onsite across 900+ school websites on bkstr.com and offsite to Follett's first-party site visitors across 1.1M+ websites and 173K mobile apps.
That lets a brand concentrate on the schools in its markets or the schools where it already sells. In-store work can follow the same list.
Check the calendar for each school on the list. Every college sets its own academic calendar, so spring start dates vary, and some schools run a short January or winter term before the spring semester begins. Where you can, time each school's flight to the week its classes start.
What to run in the first weeks
Inserts with every order
Inserts go into register purchases and web orders, so they reach students whether they pick up materials in the store or order them online. A meal-kit brand has used this approach with FMN for years: a student offer through web orders and register purchases, run as multiple campaigns throughout the year in a multi-year partnership. FMN reports 1.4 million inserts distributed for the brand, through 600+ stores.
Email while students plan the term
A dedicated brand email, or a banner in a Follett email, reaches students as they settle into new classes. A national business publication ran monthly email campaigns across 50+ schools, with content tied to a free student subscription offer. Each semester, that offer reached over 300K students.
Banners on textbook pages
Students looking up their materials see the textbooks page, and the media kit lists it as a placement for a brand's primary banner, alongside pages such as clothing and accessories. Programmatic ads can also run on textbook pages, as well as home, category, search, product and information pages. For a brand selling supplies, tech, food or services to students settling into a term, the textbook page puts the message next to the purchase students are already making.
Plan in December
Spring creative has to be ready before students come back, and the fall term gets in the way. Finals typically fall in early to mid-December, and winter break follows, with many schools not resuming classes until mid to late January.
Work back from the first day of classes:
Pick the schools and the offer in early December.
Finish creative, inserts and email copy before the holiday break.
Have banners and the first email live for the week classes start, and inserts shipped to stores ahead of it.
Agree how results will be reported. FMN reports email click-through rate, units sold and brand sales revenue; online revenue, click-through rate and conversion; and photos of in-store execution, including inserts at the register and in web orders.
Set up in December, a campaign is in front of students for the weeks they are buying. The spring term also leads into spring break in March or April and the end of the academic year in May, so a January start puts the brand in place before both.
Plan your spring semester
Get the FMN media kit for placements, specs and case results, or book a short call with Vinny to plan spring.
Get the media kit | Book a call with Vinny
Sources
Coursera, "When Does College Start? Key Dates for Fall and Spring" (updated Feb. 6, 2026).
National Association of College Stores, Faculty Watch: 2025 Report, press release, Feb. 23, 2026 (about 963 faculty at 22 colleges and universities in the US and Canada).
National Association of College Stores, Student Watch: 2026 Report, press release, July 20, 2026 (about 11,177 students at 34 colleges and universities in the US, Canada and Jamaica).
Follett Media Network media kit and website.