CU Independent University of Colorado Daily Student News
For Alex Vere-Nicoll, his marketing degree from the LEEDS School of Business is paying off.
Vere-Nicoll said he started Hangover Helpers a few weeks ago, a business that aims to relieve its customers’ hangovers by cleaning up their homes and replenishing them with Gatorade and burritos after a night of partying. Vere-Nicoll said the business is already receiving a lot of attention.
“We’ve been approached from cities all over the country from Boston to Orlando asking to license our product,” Vere-Nicoll said.
Vere-Nicoll said he has four radio interviews lined up and his business has already been featured on ABCNews.com. He said he came up with the idea for Hangover Helpers with fellow CU alumnus Marc Simons.
“We just basically sat down and thought ‘we need to find a need,’ so we asked ourselves ‘what do college kids do?’” Vere-Nicoll said.
Over the course of the conversation, Vere-Nicoll said they realized common problems they suffered during college included dirty homes and attending class hung-over. They decided to charge $15 per roommate for helping to solve these problems, along with bringing over food and drink for their hung-over customers.
Vere-Nicoll said business is a bit slow since Hangover Helpers just started but he is expecting more customer calls during the spring.
To market their business, Vere-Nicoll said he has been passing out fliers and planting business cards around campus. He also said he is looking for student marketing representatives who are social and willing to market their product around campus and at parties.
Senior Instructor of Marketing Rex Moody said it could be tricky marketing to students.
“They’re a hard group to reach, they have varied interests and they don’t all read the same publications,” Moody said.
Moody said they would be successful as long as they serve their customers well and make them happy.
Courtney Colbert, a 21-year-old senior marketing and real estate major, said she might use the Hangover Helpers services depending on how they market themselves.
“It depends on how I hear about them and how appealing they can really make themselves sound,” Colbert said.
Olivia Stutz, a 21-year-old senior advertising major, said that though she doesn’t get drunk, she might use their services anyway.
“I’d consider it for the cleaning aspect and the free burrito,” Stutz said. “The house is always messy on Sunday because no one really takes the time.”
Stutz also said she doesn’t think she would use the business unless she heard good things from someone who used their services.
Though the Hangover Helpers do what they can to relieve hangover, Vere-Nicoll said he doesn’t think there is such as thing as a perfect hangover cure.
“I don’t think there is a 100 percent cure,” Vere-Nicoll said. “There are definitely things that make it less bad but I don’t think you can drink or eat something and it’s completely gone.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jon Tattum at Jonathan.tattum@colorado.edu.
