Holidays are coming

It’s hard to believe I’ve already been part of the University’s MARC for seven weeks – time really has flown by. Christmas seemed so far off when I started at the beginning of November and now, suddenly, it’s right around the corner and I’m panic shopping. Again..!
 

National Christmas Jumper Day 2013!

The team has certainly embraced Christmas; from my desk I can see a lot of tinsel and tiny trees. We have celebrated National Christmas Jumper Day, handed out Secret Santa gifts and shared a Christmas meal at the casino over the road. It’s not just been fun and games though! We’ve been working really hard to make sure that everything is complete for this year and well prepared for next.

Alexon House

The last few weeks have seen lots of exciting developments at the University: The Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education, a lecture by Jack Straw and the opening of a mock crime scene lab in Luton, to name but a few. Something I’ve been particularly excited about is the opening of the new Art and Design building. Having grown up in Luton I’ve come to love lots of the old industrial buildings dotted around the town centre, and the Alexon building is one that holds a lot of history within its walls. It’s been given a whole new lease of life and a brand new purpose; I can’t wait to visit and to get inspired by the all the creativity going on inside.

I’ve been really busy filming, editing, proofing, writing and working my way through a very long to-do list. There hasn’t been a moment to stop and I’m definitely looking forward to a rest! You’ll find me being a big kid for a few days over the Christmas break, with a trip to Disneyland Paris planned between Christmas and New Year. My ultimate goal is to bump into Donald Duck by the end of 2013; I’ll post a picture in my next blog post if I’m successful!

Talking of the end of the year, this will be my final blog post of 2013 so, all that's left to say is I hope everyone has a really fantastic Christmas and loads of fun seeing in the New Year!


Clare

Tis the festive season

By Michelle Ramsumair, Marketing Administrator

It's almost Christmas!!! Time has definitely flown by and it's that festive time of the year again. We decorated our office yesterday so feeling much more in the spirit. If you haven't got a tree up or decorated your office then what are you waiting for?

Last week was a taste of sweet and sour as our Director of 17 years left sadly. She has seen our department through many changes and it has grown into a great department to be a part of. Although it is sad we also wish her every success where she is moving to. We had a nice leaving and Christmas do at G Casino Friday, which did consist of some gambling but more drinking I think! We also got our secret santa, someone knows me well!

So campaigns have been keeping me busy, but I have to say I am enjoying them. They involve a lot of co-ordination and attention from the initial draft plan (even before then) to the evaluation after. We are very fortunate to have a great team who word hard and endlessly on these. It is always fun when the companies you build relationships with treat you just show their appreciation. I was lucky enough to be invited by Heart FM to attend the Luton Best Awards as their guest. It was a great evening in at Warren Weir, Luton Hoo with amazing people. I really enjoy meeting interesting people whether at events or when meeting a company to see what they offer and how they may be able to assist with our campaigns.

At the moment I am also studying a CIM Professional Certificate in Marketing. It's definitely tough getting back into studying, but I have a huge amount of respect for anyone who chooses to study whilst looking after their family and working full time. I certainly can't complain, I have it rather easy!! Had my first exam last week and it was scary to say the least. There is so much to learn, but with fun colleagues and tutors working in marketing in various sectors we are never stuck for discussions, and we are all super supportive of one another. Couldn't have asked for a better group.If you are working in marketing or looking to go into it, I would highly recommend becoming a CIM member and looking into what courses and training they have to offer. For new starters in marketing it is a step onto the ladder, for those already working in this area it helps you progress further. There are also other professional bodies to look at if you want to go into other areas of marketing. Why not take a look and see all the options available to you. New Year's resolution perhaps...?

Tomorrow I fly off to Israel for a week, so I am trying to tie up everything to hand over. Definitely excited as it is somewhere different and many people have said how much I will love it out there. Will have photos to show when I return. I better get on with some work so have a great week shopping and decorating everyone!

Picture perfect

Sarah Hampton - Marketing Manager

The very first Prospects
Postgraduate Awards

The month of November has indeed been a busy one, and not just on the work front. The Marketing team has been busy jet-setting around the UK as we attend many an award ceremony. In earlier posts you'll see we went to nearby St Albans for the CIPR PRide awards where we were incredibly excited to scoop two Gold Awards.

This time we headed off to Manchester, along with the Digital Marketing Team to attend the very first Prospects Postgraduate Awards. As our last event of the year, we were out to have a fabulous time!

Feeling festive and enjoying
the xmas market

On arrival we couldn't help but pay a quick visit to the Christmas Market which was a stone's throw from the Awards Venue, the Radisson Blu Hotel. We spent a good half an hour sampling different cheeses and working out whether it was ok to have pesto and coconut in a cheese - obviously not in the same cheese! After taking in and savouring the sights, sounds and smells of the market, we made our way to the venue ready to take us our seats. Being an avid awards goer this year, we like to think we can tell whether we're in for a lucky night. We were all sat on the judges table, so surely a good sign, right?

Our digital team celebrating
on stage - well done!

We were over the moon as the Digital team picked up first place for Best Website. A truly fantastic achievement, and very well deserved after all of their hard work! Unfortunately, we didn't manage to win this time round in the category of Best Postgraduate Prospectus. It was the biggy of the evening, with more than 11 universities all going for the coveted prize and so the competition was definitely steep. But we were very pleased to have made the short-list, and even managed to get a certificate for being a finalist.

Back in the office it's been an incredibly busy period as we get cracking with the 2015 Undergraduate Prospectus. We've been busy writing and refreshing all text, auditing all courses, and arranging new photography to best showcase our new facilities. It was Clare's first big photoshoot with us here at Bedfordshire, and so the team accompanied her to show her around the campuses and facilities and demonstrate the kind of shots we look for when putting a prospectus together. We were able to see the brand-new sports halls over at our Bedford campus, and although I've been with Bedfordshire for more than six years now, it was my first visit to the Alexander Sports Centre - oh the joys of following a sat nav and ending in sheer panic as it says "you have reached your destination" and you're in the middle of a residential area.

Brand-new Art & Design teaching space

I did enjoy going over to see the new Alexon building in the centre of Luton town, which is the new home for our Art and Design students. It was great to see such a professional looking creative space, and made for some excellent pictures which will feature in the new prospectus. We were able to showcase our Fashion students at work, as well as Interior Design students happily working away and commenting on different furniture designs, as part of their projects.

Aside from the prospectus, we're quite excited to be launching our new CRM system: Belong at Beds. We've been busy generating and uploading content, after many a training session, and are almost ready to go live. So keep checking back here to see how the live launch goes.

Week One Whirlwind!

Hello there. I am Clare, Marketing Assistant and newest member of the University of Bedfordshire MARC department.

I’m Lutonian through and through and have lived in the town all my life (excluding a three year adventure courtesy of the University of Warwick). I have previously worked in arts marketing for Luton Culture, the charity that runs the town's libraries, museums and theatres.

This blog post marks the middle of my second week at the University of Bedfordshire and I can’t quite believe how quickly the days have gone by! Among introductory meetings, cups of hot chocolate and even a pizza lunch thrown in for good measure, I’ve found a bit of time to settle in to my new surroundings and got to know campus a little better.

Highly recommended: every new starter
should have a Sarah Hampton induction
schedule.

I arrived to a lovely warm welcome and a meticulously planned – and really appreciated! – induction schedule which has allowed me to get to know teams and their roles via a series of mini meetings. Meeting people one-to-one has been absolutely priceless for somebody who is, admittedly, pretty useless at matching faces to names and names to job titles! A week and a half later and I finally feel like I’ve got a grasp of who’s who and what’s what, although I’m sure there'll be tons of questions to ask now I’ve started to do some real work!

It seems like I've joined the team at a really interesting time; last week I sat in on the meeting with Z3, the people who will be putting together the 2015 prospectus, heard about various campaign plans, and had some training for the new CRM system and Matrix – plenty of excitement for a first week and a half!

I'll be at the Luton Campus open day this weekend and I'm really looking forward to experiencing the university with all the buzz and excitement of an open day. Being as new as I am, I reckon it'll be a massive help for me as well as all the prospective students hoping to get an idea of what the University of Bedfordshire is all about.

Time has really flown by and I've had a great time so far. It'll be Christmas before we know it!

Full of pride after going for Gold

By Sarah Hampton, Marketing Manager

It wouldn't be a typical week at work if we didn't have some form of urgent job to do. And this week was certainly no different, with the urgent task taking the form of a January start campaign. Here in the Marketing team we do love a good challenge and so we set about planning and preparing for this marketing push. Our freelancer Pippa was devising the activity itself, and so we have been busying ourselves with arranging and scheduling a photoshoot that will form the creative for the campaign. Easy you say? Think again.

Marketing meets Freshers
Left to right: Michelle, Forrest, Pippa, Bayleigh, Max,
Anita, and Me!

Since the ITV2 show, Freshers, had just finished showing on TV, we decided to link our campaign with the story of the freshers' that we had been avidly watching for the last three weeks on our screens, as they settle into student life at Bedfordshire. A few phone calls and emails later and we had a photographer booked, and all four freshers confirmed. Now all we had to do was source the locations, devise a shot list and brief the digital team on filming requirements.

Each of the freshers did an excellent job and gave up a lot of their time to take part in our photoshoot. It was a packed day, with back-to-back photography sessions, but boy were we impressed with the end result... I must confess that we absolutely loved meeting Forrest, and even managed to get a sneaky picture with the freshers before the end of the day - all for the purposes of blog writing and informing our audience, of course (see above).

You'll see our January campaign taking shape over the next few weeks, so as it goes live we'll share the creatives with you - and do let us know what you think!

In other news, we attended the Thames and Chiltern CIPR PRide awards on Friday (1 Nov) at Sopwell House in St Albans as we were up for Best External Publication for our 2013 Postgraduate Prospectus. We were joined by the Digital Marketing team who were short-listed for Best use of Digital, and Best use of Social Media.

Celebrating our award success on centre stage
Left to right: Lauren, me, Andy, Elisabeth and Paul

Our Digital Marketing team won awards in both of their categories: with a Silver for our Corporate film in the Best use of Digital category, and won an impressive Gold accolade for Best use of Social Media in our Clearing campaign - a massive congratulations! And we were amazed and absolutely thrilled to also win not just one, but two Gold awards, even though we only entered one category! In addition to bagging a Gold award for our Postgraduate Prospectus, we were awarded an additional Gold award from the judges for Best use of Research, Planning, Measurement and Evaluation, for the Postgraduate Prospectus (which made me very pleased to see that all of that number crunching and analysis hasn't gone un-noticed). However, Lauren and I were still in celebration mode after winning Gold earlier in the evening and actually missed this announcement. So, after a short nudge from Paul, our Digital Marketing Manager, and we swiftly made our way in a rather dazed state to receive the award. Indeed a fabulous evening! Read our award-winning entry here.

Read a #PRideTC award winning case study from @uniofbeds who picked up gold for their use of measurement & evaluation http://t.co/eXJHePgdq5
— CIPR (@CIPR_UK) November 4, 2013

Supporting our Business academics
over at Bedford

In and amongst all of the above, I managed to squeeze in some time to join our Business academics over at the Bedford campus. I was invited to sit on an assessment panel for our final year students who were tasked with presenting a business case for a charity event to raise money - it was great to hear about their project management, as well as their innovative ideas for the actual event itself, and generating awareness for their cause, but most importantly (for me anyway) their marketing and how they were ensuring ROI.

Finally, I'm pleased to share with you that we have now been joined by our new Marketing Assistant, Clare O'Brien, and so we've been busy setting up inductions and introducing Clare to the wider MARC team, kicking off with an obligatory welcome lunch at none other than Pizza Express. Clare's joined us at a great time, as we're just about to get going with the 2015 Undergraduate Prospectus. What better way to find out about the University, than by researching, writing and arranging photoshoots all around campus?

Passion, pain and quantum physics!

At last I’ve got going on putting together the research brochure and web pages – research is an area of university life I feel passionate about.
Research is so important to universities and Bedfordshire did very well in the last research assessment exercise. We’re submitting our current research to the new Research Excellence Framework (REF) at the moment and I know folk here have been extremely busy on this. A new aspect that the REF takes into account is the impact of the research on ‘society’ eg how it advances medical care, improves life chances, influences government policy, protects the planet etc.
When I look around at our  ten Research Institutes here it’s not hard to see how our research improves lives- IDOP work is improving the lot of older patients suffering from diabetes;  IHR is changing attitudes to organ donation among ethnic minority groups;  IASR is working hard to understand the abuse and exploitation of children and young people, so that laws and government policies can be strengthened to tackle this serious problem; and colleagues in iBEST are working hard to understand the ravages that man is causing to the environment, especially our coral reefs.
I do hope I can do justice to Bedfordshire’s research- it touches us all!

Oh dear, I’m going on a bit, as usual, but I am someone with scientific training (biochemistry) and am a sucker for things scientific, especially anything new in the realms of quantum physics – inspired by the late, great, Nobel prize winning physicist Richard Feynman – do read his autobiographies, they are hugely entertaining – and more recently by the ubiquitous Professor Brian Cox. (Photo courtesy of Paul Clarke). Amazing really, as I only just scraped a pass in my A level physics!
To keep the gender balance, one of my biggest scientific heroines is the brilliant Rosalind Franklin who never really got the credit she deserved for her work on DNA - that's starting to change and young women should be inspired by her, by Marie and Irena Curie, and indeed our own Bushra Ahmed, to reach great heights in scientific research.

Another of my passions, as you may remember, is rugby league – best forget my team’s performance in the season which has just ended – we now have the World Cup which started last weekend-sadly with losses for my national team, Wales (we stand little chance!), and Ireland and England, although Scotland came up with a superb, nail-biting win over the mighty Tongans on Tuesday. The Aussie and NZ teams are, as usual, strong but I have a sneaking suspicion that the Samoans might do well and cause an upset somewhere en route! Hope so!  Try and watch a match over the next few weeks-who knows, you might be converted!


 

Stepping out the office

by Michelle Ramsumair, Marketing Administrator

Starting work when it's dark enough outside to still sleep definitely tells me it's almost time for those delicious limited edition Costa hot beverages. The beautiful festival of lights is also approaching on the 03 November. For all those celebrating I wish you a very happy Diwali in advance. Next Halloween and Christmas!

Weeks are flying and it's almost time for my holiday, but more on that at a much later date. In the meantime the team are working hard in one of the busiest times of the year. We mostly remain in our office, but all our hard work can be be seen by those outside. Our second wave of the Winter Campaign is about to start so make sure to look out for us. We couldn't let you forget us after Clearing now could we?

As October open days pass we start preparing for 16 November open days at our Luton and Bedford campuses. It's always interesting and fun to meet nervous potential students and their encouraging parents. Reminds me of when my mum and I started looking at universities. I remained quiet and my mum would push me forward slightly saying 'You're the one applying not me, say something'. It's the best way to find out everything you want to know about where you will be spending some of the most important years of your life. Not to worry though, just remember everyone is in the same boat.

I recently attended a CASE Publications Forum in London. It's always great to escape the office for a day to network and see what more you can learn in the world of marketing. The importance of publications, working with agencies and story telling are the main areas we covered. I came away with many interesting points to feedback to the team, whether it was reassurance we are on the right track or learning something knew. It was definitely beneficial for all who attended.

Amongst the daily race we are running there has to be some fun right? So I've recently found a new hobby... snowboarding! Well I've done level 1 and level 2 this weekend. Not quite flying down mountains and doing tricks just yet but that's all in good time. All I can say is if your skiing or snowboarding next year...be careful on the slopes! I may be hurtling past you. So if you see someone screaming, zipping past you and they are still standing, that's not me. If you see someone screaming and rolling past you..bingo!

Wish me luck!

It's been a while...

by Rehanna Khan, Marketing Assistant

Hi Everyone

It's been a while, hasn't it? What have you been up to? It's been business as usual in the marketing department and no less busy.


Last week, we had the much anticipated 2015 prospectus pitches. Held on the grounds of the picturesque Putteridge Bury campus, we (a panel of six plus me) welcomed three agencies in all their powerpoint glory. It’s always interesting to see how each agency has interpreted the brief, what thought process has gone into the design and through what means they propose to achieve the end product. The agencies truly impressed with their bold designs and innovative concepts. What I found most fascinating was how each agency unanimously adopted the idea of storytelling. Each campaign concept seemed to follow a specific dialogue and sequence of images that depicted an overall theme of achieving aspirations by studying at Bedfordshire. We will be appointing an agency next week so keep your eyes peeled when we reveal who got it.

Currently, we are making preparations for our upcoming undergraduate open days. We have one tomorrow at our UCMK campus – there’s still time to register so book your place now. This will be followed by the 19 October open day at both Luton and Bedford campuses. You can register here. Open days are a great opportunity to get a real feel for a university, its environment, and facilities, and to talk to students and academics about your course of interest. If you are going through the process of choosing the right university and course, attend as many open days as you can and be sure to get all your questions answered. After all, wherever you choose to go, you’ll be dedicating thre
e years of your life to it, so it has to be worth it.

In other news, I have a new addiction – Game of Thrones – and I love every crude, bloody episode so far! I’m proud to say I watched the first series in one day flat and have now swiftly moved onto series 2 – it’s going to be a shock-fest I’m certain. How did I ever miss it on TV? God alone knows!


Next week I’ll be celebrating Eid-Al-Adha – the celebration preceding Hajj. Hajj - the great pilgrimage to Mecca - is a journey that every Muslim, with the means to, must make before they die. It is by far, the largest annual gathering of Muslims from around the world. I love watching the pilgrims on TV (airing live from Mecca) as they perform each rite and ritual. I hope to be one of those pilgrims one day.


Ciao for now.

Panels, planning and Postgraduate Awards - all in a weeks work

By Sarah Hampton - Marketing Manager

Well firstly I do apologise for the late blog posting - it's been very busy within the Marketing team lately and since our last posting there's been lots going on that we can share with you. So do bear with me whilst I rattle through and bring you up to speed...

After all of our efforts over the past few months, our Clearing campaign for this year has finally come to a close. Freshers' Week is now just a stones throw away and so we're excited to see our campus get filled up with this years' new cohort of students as we start to see them settle in to their new surroundings and breathe new life into our campuses, after the last few months of summer seeming like a ghost town. But, as one job finishes another begins, and so it will be no surprise to hear that we're already straight into our 2014 marketing campaigns.

Failing to plan is
planning to fail!

I've been busying myself with meeting colleagues from our Digital Marketing, Telemarketing, Market Research, and Recruitment teams to discuss our plans and activity for the next academic year, as well as changes we'd like to make, and looking at ways that we can, as a team, implement some new and exciting ideas (more on these in future posts). It's all in the early stages at the moment and still quite hush hush, so I'll be able to share more with you as ideas progress.

Getting ahead of the game
with our Sports webpage

Some information that I can share with you is the success of our recent Postgraduate Sport campaign which ran between June and September. Working with our Sport departments based at our Bedford campus, we devised a marketing plan which involved trialling some promoted tweets for the very first time, direct marketing, as well as course features on Prospects and Masters Compare.

I hope to have the report on this activity finalised shortly, but some interim highlights include a 42% uplift to our PGT Sport applicants (post campaign), and a 65% uplift in applications compared with the previous year. A job well done if we do say so ourselves!

Role reversal with many candidates
posing some interesting questions to
the panel 

I'm always quite amazed at how much we're able to plough through, considering the amount of time I've actually spent at my desk in the last week or two. For the last week in particular I feel as though I could give the X Factor a run for their money as I don my interview attire and sit on panel after panel to meet new candidates as we interview for some vacancies within the wider MARC team. First up was a two-day stint to support the Recruitment team in their search for a new Recruitment Assistant. Candidates delivered excellent and insightful presentations into our many Postgraduate audiences and how we can better target them. With Postgraduate marketing being quite close to my heart I really enjoyed hearing what everyone had to say and what challenges they felt we faced. Over the last two days I've been on another panel, this time we've been recruiting to a role within my own team - Marketing Assistant. I found it fascinating to hear what questions we were asked at the end of the interviews, which definitely kept us all on our toes. From: "Why do we work here and what do you enjoy about your job", to "How will you manage my performance and development" to some out there questions such as "Tell us about the strategy for the next year".

Roll on Monday! It's prospectus
pitches time

Coming up next week are the 2015 prospectus pitches which we've been waiting for, for a long time (don't believe me? Scroll back through the blog posts to recall our excitement!). Well the time has finally arrived, so we'll be heading on over to our Putteridge Bury campus next week to form yet another panel, and meet with a number of agencies. I always enjoy seeing how our 2015 publications begin to take shape. Read more about this in next weeks post! We'll give you all the exclusive details right here.

The Postgraduate Awards will be the first event in the UK to celebrate and showcase marketing excellence in postgraduate recruitment.
— postgradawards (@postgradawards) April 2, 2013

Although we've been incredibly busy I've still managed to squeeze in some time to submit another awards entry; this time for Prospects' very first Postgraduate Awards. We've entered for Best Postgraduate Prospectus, alongside some entries from the Digital team, so keep everything crossed for us, and we'll keep you posted on whether we're lucky enough to have another awards dinner on the cards. After the hectic week that we've had I definitely think we deserve a treat or two!

Playing by the rules and the pike syndrome

A guest blog post from the freelancer!

Well, they’re keeping me busy here, working on, among other things, forthcoming Open Days, UCMK and PG Life, our monthly newsletter for those interested in postgrad education.
I’ve even recorded and edited (with a lot of help from Lauren!) my first YouTube video – an interview about our PG tourism courses.
As someone with a background in B2B marketing and sales it’s great to be talking to a different public in the form of potential, current and former University of Bedfordshire students. Whilst the audience is different the principles of communicating useful information to make informed purchase decisions are the same. 
Or so I thought … until… the traditional view of Marketing was called into question in a very entertaining way at a Knowledge Network event that Sarah, Rehanna and I went to at Putteridge Bury.

Business guru Grant Leboff, of Sticky Marketing fame, started off telling us about the ‘pike syndrome’ (go on - look it up on YouTube!) and used this analogy to educate us in the 3 (new) rules of marketing in the wake of the communications revolution and how we are all hyperconnected these days. (Except those of us who don’t have a smartphone yet but apparently I’m in a very small minority!!)
In a nutshell (because he talked for well over an hour, punctuated with examples ranging from the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign to Tesco weekly money-off vouchers and how Ford gave away Fiesta cars to prominent social media barons):

Rule 1. Marketing is no longer a means to an end-it’s an end in itself-no-one has a USP any more so Marketing must give value to the customer

Rule 2.  Marketing is no longer about products and services but about people, with information disseminated through virtual conversations ie  ‘online word of mouth’ such as Likes on Facebook or recommendations on shopping sites like Amazon

Rule 3. Marketing is no longer about getting customers (at least not directly) but about building communities and engaging with your public at different levels.

Perhaps I’ve added a bit of value with this blog post-especially to any marketers out there- by spreading the word about this ‘Marketing revolution’.

What do you think about how we communicate with you –can we give you ‘added value’?

In fact, is anyone out there reading this?!!

Actually that makes me reflect on that old philosophical chestnut –if a tree falls in a forest but nobody hears it did it actually make a sound? If I write something online, but no-one reads it, did it exist or has it disappeared in the ether?

Whoa!!... this is getting way too serious-I should be blogging about the latest piece of vintage jewellery I bought off eBay to add to my stunning collection-or whether to up the weights I’ll press in the gym tonight.  Or whether my beloved St Helens will get through to the Super League Grand Final…now, in view of this season’s poor form (they're playing like that pike), that would take some new rules!

Happy Monday!

by Rehanna Khan, Marketing Assistant

Hello again

As we usher in the seasonal terrible twosome - rain and wind - we wave a reluctant goodbye to the glorious summer of 2013. Since we're so accustomed to a British summer lasting a 'debatable' week, the two months of 'unseasonal' sunshine have indeed been glorious! See you next year... *eveything crossed* And although Summer takes a break, it's business as usual in the Marketing team...


We officially kicked off the 2014 open day cycle in July. With our upcoming Open Days one month after the other, it's fun times ahead. The next one is Wednesday (11 September) 10.30am - 3pm at both Luton and Bedford campuses. If you're interested in a course at Bedforshire or just want advice on university study and life in general then come along. You can talk to an academic about specific courses and areas of interest, explore the fantastic facilities and talk to students past and present about life at the University. Register here.

I'm not sure if you recall but I mentioned working on a collection of subject guides along with Lauren and Scott a few posts ago. I'm glad to report most are now signed off and online with just Sport, Nursing, Education and English awaiting the final touches.

What's more, we'll be starting the Undergraduate Propsectus 2015 in a weeks time. So early you say? Absolutely! Producing one prospectus can take up to five months to complete and even then, it's a real challenge. So if you see me and I don't see you, please forgive me.We'll be starting the process with creative agencies pitching for the creative design and management of our suite of prospectuses (undergraduate and postgraduate). Will keep you updated.

On another positive note, we have a new addition (albeit temporary) to the team in the exuberant form of Gaynor Bray. Since Scott left a few weeks ago, Gaynor has been gracing the team with her creative mind, great eye for detail and fantastic taste in jewellery! She has helped the team progress jobs and projects and is a pleasure to have on board. We'll be interviewing for the Marketing Assistant job very soon so watch this space for more additions to the team...

On a personal note, I've been on air. In my spare time, I've been sharing the air waves with Dr Fiaz (also from the University) on Inspire FM, the local community radio station. We've been hosting 'In my humble opinion' which airs every Friday's from 6-7pm. Discussing religion and social perceptions to political issues, we talk about anything and everything that our listeners want to hear. So tune in and feel free to call or text - we'd love to hear from you. Tune in here.

So. Two months ago I invested in a cineworld unlimited card. I was all geared up to watch a minimum of two movies a week - I can solemnly report I haven't watched any! Hoping to report on a cinematic movie fest soon...

Until the next time, it's adieu from me.

Well deserved fun needed I think!

By Michelle Ramsumair, Marketing Administrator

Firstly, a huge congratulations to Sarah Hampton for her promotion to Marketing Manager! Truly well deserved and she is going to do a superb job I’m sure.  If you can’t tell already it’s all happening in our team.

If you haven't noticed us about with our Clearing advertising and appearances at various locations in Luton and Bedford, a summer holiday is not an excuse! It's pretty hard not to see us, and we have a number of events coming up.  

Wednesday 11 September 10.30am-3pm we have our first Open Event during the week for anyone interested in 2014 entry. It will be at both our Luton and Bedford campuses so a huge department effort is being made. If you or you know anyone who may be interested come along.

On Wednesday 18 September from 1-7.30pm the public will be able to drop-in to our new campus UCMK! With brand new facilities and academics there to talk to, it will be the perfect opportunity to find out what it would be like to study with us. There are full-time and part-time courses available, so if you are interested why not come see us. It’s a good excuse to have a snoop around too. For more information, visit www.ucmk.ac.uk.

At the moment you can tell it's rather manic, working on current campaigns and the beginning of our Part-time and Winter Campaign also. Now we are out and about we won't be going anywhere, so watch this space to see what's coming next. Obviously after a non-stop few weeks we deserve to let our hair down, so a group of us gorgeous ladies will be going out tonight. It could get a little messy but it's much needed indeed. Although summer is at an end why should the fun stop right? Have a great relaxed or lively weekend!

On the case

By Sarah Hampton - Marketing Manager

Arriving at the Case Conference

This week is my first week back in the office, and also my first official week as the new Marketing Manager, having been away at the Case Europe Annual Conference following on from the recent bank holiday. As my remit has now expanded to look after both Undergraduate and Postgraduate Marketing (In my former role as Marketing Officer my main domain was Postgraduate), I decided that I needed to refresh my knowledge, and what better way to reacquaint myself than by attending a three day conference dedicated to Higher Education!

Pen poised; fetching purple lanyard - that can only mean 1thing. I'm @mcr_central ready to begin the @caseconference @CASE_Europe #ceac2013
— Sarah Hampton (@Sarah_Hampton) August 27, 2013

Manchester Convention Centre

This years' Case Conference was held at the Manchester Convention Centre, and played host to more than 900 delegates from all areas of Marketing, Communications, Digital Marketing, Alumni Relations and Fundraising. It really provided a great networking opportunity, and in my usual sponge-like way, I was able to soak up lots of interesting information about what challenges other universities are facing, and how they are tackling them. It was also great to catch up with some companies that we've worked with closely over the last year including the Guardian, and Graduate Prospects.

Reputation, reputation, reputation!
One of the many sessions at Case.

The conference itself can be quite intensive, with back-to-back sessions lined up within each specialised area. For the duration of the three days I opted to follow the 'Marketing track' as closely as possible, attending sessions such as "We're all marketers now - engaging the organisation in the development of a marketing culture" and "Stand apart from the crowd - uncovering and proving your unique selling points" - both of which are quite topical and timely for us at Bedfordshire. I also attended a session run by the University of Reading, entitled "The 3 R's: Reputation, reputation, reputation" (see above image). Quite an insightful look into managing brands, and how not to - with a few humourous case studies thrown in there for good measure.

China Town, Manchester

To round up my experience in Manchester, I teamed up with our very own Alumni Relations Manager, Lucia Limb (who was also a delegate); and we did what any self respecting tourist would do: head on down to China town, and so that is exactly what we did! We were spoilt for choice as we took in the sights, sounds, and delicious smells; and promptly settled down for what was an incredible feast of food.

For some reading this blog, you'll be wondering why I'm not reporting back on the first evening in Manchester which was spent with my new found HE friends, well, in short it involved a fabulous rum bar, many cocktails, and a very slow start to the next day. But that's for another blog, another time. ;-)

Clearing the way

By Sarah Hampton - Marketing Manager

In my last post, back in July, I mentioned that we’d started off the preparation for our 2015 publications. Well, a lot has happened since then. The briefs have been written, the print specs have been set, and our tender has now officially gone out with the help of the University’s procurement team. It’s all very exciting. So, it’s over to the creative agencies now to impress us with their designs. Our creative pitches are due next month, and so we’ll be able to bring you more details on the tender then – so continue to watch this space as we keep you informed.

Tube car panels - London underground

We’re now well into this years’ clearing campaign, but then you already knew that didn’t you? Our campaign has been bigger and better than ever, and we’re getting a lot of fantastic, positive comments from staff and students alike, as they see their University’s presence out en masse in the community. Last week Michelle and I took a trip down to London to meet with CBS Outdoor, as they gave us a run through of all of our media platforms where we could see our campaign running live – it was also a great opportunity to see what all of our competitors are doing, and how we compare! As marketers, we’re always keen to be sussing out the competition and benchmarking the work that we do on our quest for perfection.

Your Guide to Starting
with us - 2013

Clearing has definitely been a big team effort. Rehanna has also been busy over the last few weeks with our publication that is sent to all new starters, entitled Your Guide to Starting with us. This publication was delivered to our Admissions team ready to send out with our student offer letters on results day. Since it was printed, we have had a lot of colleagues from the wider University getting in touch to tell us what they think (all very positive, of course!), and wanting to get more involved in this key publication, which is great for us! We’re always keen to involve others in our work. It's the first year that we have sent this to both Undergraduate and Postgraduate students, so we're very interested to see what our students think. Take a look at the online version of this guide.

Time to celebrate!

In other news, I'm very pleased to share with you that earlier today I was appointed to the permanent role of Marketing Manager for the University of Bedfordshire - yay me! I'm very excited to get my teeth into this new role and look forward to being able to inject my creativity into our upcoming plans and projects - so be sure to keep your eye on this blog as we share ideas and tackle next years' marketing challenges. For my first week as the new manager I'll be off to the Case Conference in Manchester to soak up lots of knowledge and network with other Marketers in the sector, so if you too will be at the Case Conference, don't be a stranger! 

Back to Beds...!

by Rehanna Khan, Marketing Assistant

Hi Everyone

I'm back after a lovely week of celebrating the end of Ramadan with a a very festive Eid (which also marks the first day of the next Islamic month - Shawaal)! I cooked, I ate, I ate some more... and more... and enjoyed a wonderful time surrounded by loved ones. It was an epic continuum of eating glorious food with the people I adore  - looking forward to it again next year :)

Back in the office, things are buzzing - it's clearing fever all around. And though it's busy, we fear not! As per each year, our Admissions Team have a sophisticated system set up which inlcudes an ample number of in-house operators, an overflow call centre (so no-one is left on hold) and a special call back team. So if you know anyone, or are someone who is themself interested in studying with us, then give us a call on 0800 013 0925 - but don't leave it too long, I hear we're filling up places pretty quick! :) 

Did you know Lauren is now part of the Digital Team? Of course you do :) But I had to have my say. As Lauren used to sit opposite me, I came back to an empty space *sob sob*. Though if I strain my ear hard enough, I can hear her laughter a few yards away. It's great to know she's still part of the wider team and I'm extremely pleased for her. I guess now the search begins for the Marketing Team's next marketing assistant... Speaking of which, we're due to appoint a new Marketing Manager next week. These are exciting times indeed.




Until the next time, adios amigos :)
Rehanna