The Northern Star reaches 88 percent of NIU students, almost twice that of its nearest competitor, the Chicago Tribune. More readers pick it up on Monday than any other day (but by a narrow margin). One-fourth of NIU students owned an iPod in 2005, and another one-fourth planned to purchase one within six months.

A huge part of the Northern Star’s advertising sales success over the past decade can be traced to knowing its customers through this type of market research. And the research itself – hundreds of pages in all – can be traced to Dr. Denise Schoenbachler.

Formerly the chair of the NIU Marketing Department and now, since last July, dean of the entire College of Business, Denise embodies the term “Friend of the Star.” Three times – in 1996, 2000 and 2005 – she has contracted with the Star to conduct and deliver market research. She obtained scientific results using NIU’s Public Opinion Laboratory to conduct telephone surveys of hundreds of students and faculty members. Then, she met with the Star’s advertising sales staff to discuss the results and subsequent sales strategies.

“I talked to them about, ‘How do you translate this data into your sales program, and how do you use it to find new clients and customers and opportunities?'” she said. “Because we did the study for real, we could show the students, here’s this market research. Now how do you use that? It’s a living classroom as opposed to just having case studies.”

Partnering with the Star makes perfect sense for Denise and other business faculty, she said, because the students tend to be talented, outgoing and motivated.

“It never would surprise me, as a faculty member, when one of our really strong students told me they worked for the Star,” she said. “We have a professional selling program over here, and the Star experience in ad sales and that program, together, are just perfect for identifying really strong students who have an interest in sales.”

She calls the Star “The lifeblood of the university” and values its independence.

“Even though I don’t always agree with everything in the Star, it is a learning laboratory,” she said. “If everything was so constricted and restricted in the process of putting the Star together, then it wouldn’t have the value that is has.”