All By Students Notebooks

All By Students (ABS) Notebooks was a college marketing company that partners with universities across the United States to spearhead a free school supplies initiative for students.

Their flagship product, a free multi-subject notebook, was 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.