Commercial Partners Information & Booking Page
This year's SUBU Freshers Fair is on Saturday 27th September 2025, 10 am to 3 pm, and will bring the arrivals week to a climax for 5,000 new students and 12,000 returning students.
Click here to view the Freshers' Fair booking terms & conditions.
Alternatively for more information or to be sent a booking form contact Andy Elsey, SUBU Sales Executive: susales@bournemouth.ac.uk
What is Freshers' Fair?
The SUBU Freshers Fair is a huge exhibition that is free to attend for 18,000 BU students. Included in the fair are lots of local and national businesses together with a collection of live entertainment, sports demonstrations, music, food and drink!
There are 5,000 new first year students to the area each year.
We have welcomed numerous national and local brands to this event, over many years, who recognise this as a key time to connect with our students starting their key life moment of going to University. Many of whom are often moving to a new area and out into their own home for the first time.
We've tried to capture the fantastic atmosphere and experience in the highlights video below.
Commercial Highlights Video
Commercial Highlights from previous years
Keep up to date with exhibitors attending this year by liking the Official Freshers & Refreshers Fair Facebook Page.
Did you know..? Our Freshers Fair is officially one of the best in the country!
BAM Marketing Agency toured Freshers’ Fairs across the UK from Scotland to the South Coast, surveying thousands of students and hundreds of stallholders to compile the most detailed research forming a Top 20 Freshers’ Fairs in the country. SUBU are proud to be at the top of this list for three years in succession since winning it in 2016. Each year SUBU are measured against some other great Students' Unions and Universities across the country so represents a great achievement.
The full list of the results from other Freshers Fairs and survey highlighted results can be viewed by clicking below.
BAM "UK's Best Freshers' Fair"
What can SUBU offer you?
As organisers of the Freshers' Fair, SUBU is able to offer prime exhibitor pitches, which can accommodate well over 100 commercial partners. A standard Gold exhibitor pitch means a 6ft x 2ft trestle table, 2 chairs, marketing and data capture rights for the entire day as well as the option for free Wi-Fi access, free onsite parking, electric power and a back wall for added marketing presence.
Full prices and options for stalls can be seen below.
UPDATE: PRICE FREEZE TILL the end of summer term Friday 21st June 2024
Maximise Your Impact...
To expand your marketing campaign during the arrivals period and to continue your relationship with BU students throughout the academic year, then book some additional activities:
Student Welcome Map - 5,000 map sheets printed & distributed. 80x50mm landscape advert on edge of map - £250
Email campaign to new and existing students - Reaching 15,000 students registered to receive promotional emails - £375
Social Media Post (SUBU Bournemouth) - £65 per post, or four post - £200
SUBU Newspaper Freshers Edition A3 Publication 4, 000 printed and distributed - Portrait full page advert - £500, Lanscape half page - £300
Digital Screens - 9 landscape screens in key locations (facing the queue for Ground Up cafe, behind SU Shop counters, Poole House central atrium, and across the Student Centre) - £11 per week per screen, £400 per month minimum
Halls of Residence Leaflet Distribution - 2,500 leaflet packs delivered to 12 halls of residence reaching 6,000 students - £250
Indoor promotional stand (term time) - includes 2 social media posts - £200
Outdoor promotional vehicle (term time) - includes 2 social media posts - £300
A2 Posters (W420mm x H594mm) - various high footfall campus locations - £20 per week
A0 Posters (W841mm x H1189mm) - various high footfall campus locations - £35 per week
Six-Sheet Size Posters (W1,200mm x H1,800mm) - £50 per week
Green Impact and Sustainability
SUBU is committed to making our Freshers Fair as environmentally sustainable as possible. We’re working with charity Ecolibrium to balance fossil-fuel travel miles to the Fair.
To work out the impact of your travel to the Freshers' Fair and to balance your journey, please use the simple Travel Carbon Calculator provided by Ecolibrium and donate accordingly. 100% of donations will be invested directly into clean renewable energy and/or tree planting to offset Co2 emissions.
Commercial Stalls: Please support our green aims
Our greatest partners in this environmental effort are our commercial stall holders, so we are looking for your support this year to host a green and sustainable promotional stand!
You can achieve this in the following ways:
- No use of plastic bags, balloons and/or stickers on your stand.
- Electronic devices used to collect data instead of paper.
- Hand out flyers only to those students who express genuine interest e.g. Not just handing something to everyone passing by.
- All items/flyers being handed out are easily recycled and composted - No single use plastic items.
- Volume of waste is kept to a minimum, and any waste to be 100% recyclable or biodegradable.
Thank you in anticipation for your support. If you would like to discuss this with us then please contact Andy Elsey, SUBU Commercial Partnership Manager
I'm game! How do I book?
If you have attended our fair in the past, you will know that in order to guarantee a prime location it is advisable to make a booking as early as possible. This will help us ensure that you will be perfectly positioned to begin a long-lasting and profitable relationship with up to 18,000 plus students at Bournemouth University.
Click here to view the Freshers' Fair booking terms & conditions.
Alternatively for more information or to be sent a booking form contact Andy Elsey, SUBU Sales Executive: susales@bournemouth.ac.uk
Post: Students' Union at Bournemouth University, Student Centre, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
Already booked?
The Talbot Campus Map showing the additional drop-off zones and event parking is available here.
Directions to Talbot Campus are available here.
The Freshers' Fair Highlights Map is available here.