HippoCampus.org Student Messaging System

Are you looking to reach college-bound middle or high school students in a unique, high-value environment?

Look no further. You've found HippoCampus.org!

HippoCampus.org is a widely used and highly respected Open Educational Resource that delivers curricular-based academic content in middle-school and high-school classrooms during the day, and offers that same content to students in the evenings as a study and homework resource.

Hippocampus.org has been working with both The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for nearly a decade to create this site for the benefit of students and teachers everywhere.

Our mission: To help meet society's need for access to effective, high-quality educational opportunities in an era of rapid economic, social, and personal change.*

As part of our mission, we help our students learn about their options for continuing their education beyond high school. We welcome advertisers whose message is consistent with our educational mission and our non-profit, foundation-funded status. HippoCampus partners with non-profit colleges and universities, and a select few commercial advertisers, whose message adds true value and represents an opportunity for our student users to learn about options for supporting or continuing their academic and educational efforts.

Partnering with HippoCampus allows you to:

  • Strengthen your institution's or organization's brand awareness with potential new students.
  • Capture a student's attention in a low-threat, high-value learning environment.
  • Gain all the awareness benefits of television and radio broadcasting--our banner ads stay up for 30 seconds while students watch content videos--but with the added benefit of being "narrow-casted" to precisely the students you are trying to reach, and can be further laser-target by the courses, age ranges, and geographical area you select.

HippoCampus can customize delivery of your message by:

  • Zip Code, City, State, Country, or DMA— target top feeder schools or get a message to students when they need it
  • Time of day— reach students during class or when they are doing homework
  • Subject matter— target your best prospects in U.S. History, Physics, or other subject-specific classes, which also indirectly targets by grade level (8th-9th grade for Algebra, 11th grade for U.S. History, etc.)

Ad Options: Pre-rolls and Banners

HippoCampus offers two sizes of advertisements.

Pre-Roll Ads

Pre-roll ads are 530 x 345, and run for 5 seconds immediately ahead of a video or animated movie in the center of the Media Window screen. They can be clicked to bring a user to a new web page. Pre-rolls can be static or animated images.

In-context example of a 530 x 345 pre-roll:

Banner Ads

Banner ads are 728 x 90, and appear immediately above the main content in the Media Window. They refresh every 30 seconds. In the default Media Window size, banners are scaled to 75% to fit the window; when a user maximizes the screen (as they would do when projecting it for classroom use), the banner scales to 100% and is centered horizontally on the screen.

In-context example of a 728 x 90 banner, displayed at 75% in the default Media Window: In-context example of a 728 x 90 banner, displayed at 100% in the maximized Media Window:

Ad Rates

The base cost per thousand impressions (CPM) for ads on HippoCampus is $10 for colleges, universities, and other non-profit organizations, and $12 for commercial enterprises whose offerings meet the strict advertiser criteria outlined above. During the summer of 2012, we are offering a 50% discount for new advertisers as we launch our advertising system.

  • Geo-targeting Included

    You can laser target the geographical area where your ad is delivered. You can pinpoint users in one zip code or in several, in specific cities or states, nationwide, or by Designated Market Area (three-digit codes that divide the U.S. into approximately 220 zones). Cost of geo-targeting is included in the base cost.

  • School-day Premium

    For a $2/CPM premium, you can reach students in their classrooms. Place your ad during a traditional school day, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday. These ads have the most chance of being presented in a classroom, which means 15-30 sets of eyes for each single impression in a typical class.

  • Subject-Specific Premium

    For a $2/CPM premium, HippoCampus can target pre-roll or banner ads in specific academic subject areas, such as Physics or Algebra, that provide the most suitable audience and editorial environment for your message.

Meet the NROC/HippoCampus Team at the following events in 2012:

  • ITC eLearning 2012, Feb 18-21, Long Beach CA
  • National Association for Developmental Education, Feb 22-25, Orlando FL
  • Innovations 2012, March 4-7, Philadelphia PA
  • 2012 NROC Network Member Meeting, Mar 26-27, Monterey CA
  • Sloan-C Blended Learning Conference, Apr 23-24, Milwaukee WI
  • ISTE Conference, June 24-27, San Diego CA
  • ELTO/SREB Online Learning Institute: June 27 at ISTE, San Diego CA
  • National Association for College Admission Counseling: October 4-6, Denver CO

For More Information

For advertising questions, please contact Beth Pickett, HippoCampus Product Manager, at bpickett@montereyinstitute.org.