Celebrations, campaigns and clearing

By Sarah Hampton - Marketing Manager

Our blog posts are coming in thick and fast, and we’re very excited to be sharing an insight into all of our work and the many projects that we’re working on at the moment.

Postgraduate 2014 Prospectus

This week has seen the culmination of five months’ hard work come to an end, as we approve the 2014 Postgraduate Prospectus for print. Working on our prospectuses forms a key part of the work we do here in the Marketing team, and so we were very pleased to get another one under our belt this week. At the time of writing this blog post our latest prospectus has made its way over to Mansfield (where our external printer is based) and is currently on press. Here’s a sneak peek (left) at the cover. You can also flick through it online – we hope you will all like it as much as we do!

Just as one project comes to an end, another one begins. And the fact that we are already preparing for our next Undergraduate Prospectus, for 2015 entry, is an incredibly scary thought. More on this in future posts, as we approach the Prospectus tender stage and the creative pitches – my favourite time of the year!

For any of you who happened to be at our graduation ceremonies last week, I’m sure you will have seen a member of the Marketing team roaming around, armed with a video camera and microphone as we join in on the festivities of the day. Scott and Lauren ventured out to interview some of our graduates at both our Luton and Putteridge Bury campuses last week, and spoke to some of our graduates about their time at Bedfordshire. They were also on a mission to capture the fantastic buzzy atmosphere that comes with celebrating our students’ success. You’ll be able to see the video interviews in the next issue of our award-winning monthly e-zine, Postgraduate Life. If you’re not already subscribed to receive it then fear not, as you can sign up here.

Congratulations to all graduates from the University of Bedfordshire who are celebrating their success today! @uniofbeds
— Iliyan Nanchev (@IliyanNanchev) July 23, 2013

August is by far one of our busiest months for us as we prepare for Clearing. The team has been hard at work for the last few months; working with creative agencies to develop our campaign visuals; our key messages; arranging photo shoots; and devising and costing out the activities that will form our marketing campaign for this years’ Clearing period. Since some of our visuals have now gone live, we can exclusively share some highlights with you. We currently have some outdoor media up and running including bus advertising, both in the local area and in London. Keep looking out for other aspects of our campaign over the coming weeks, and be sure to let us know what you think.

Clearing Campaign 2013 (bus rear)

Watch this space for more Clearing updates as our campaign gets rolled out.

All change!

By Lauren Hague - Marketing Assistant

Well what can I say, no week in marketing is ever the same, and I can definitely say that for the past week!

Firstly we have shortlisted for another award, this time the CIPR PRide awards for the Best External Publication for our Postgraduate Prospectus! 

We are all very proud. Not only does a lot of work go into the finished publication but the actual award submissions can be pretty grueling too. You often have to prove how you have met the objectives set and prove why the publication was not only successful but innovative too. This sometimes involves a great deal of number crunching and some (a lot of) pestering of our Market Research Manager for help with the research! (Thank you Andy!)  So it is always nice when our hard work pays off and we are shortlisted.

Wayhay! We have been shortlisted for a #CIPR #PRide award for Best External Publication for our Postgraduate Prospectus! Happy Friday :)
— The PG Team (@uobpg) July 26, 2013

This week are nearing the sign off of the new postgraduate prospectus, which we are all very excited about, it, is always great to see a project completed (and off our desks!) Just in time to start working on the revamp of the UCMK prospectus.

Me, Rehanna and Scott are also currently working on updating 13 subject guides between us. These are designed to show prospective undergraduate students what is going on in their subject area they are interested in. They contain news stories, student profiles, what courses are available, what the facilities are like and staff updates. I like doing these kinds of jobs as it means a lot of liaising with different departments and is a great way to update your knowledge about what is going on around the University, which is vital when you are working in marketing.

Bye Bye Marketing pod! :(

In other news… it’s all change again in the team as I will be leaving *sob *sob. I have accepted a position in the Digital Marketing Team as Digital Marketing Officer. I won’t be going too far (3 rows of desks to be exact) and will still be working closely with the team but in digital capacity instead. I am very excited about taking on the role and to get stuck in. I did my degree in Digital Media Design so digital communication is where my interest lies.

Hello Digital Marketing pod!

I have loved working in my team and will be sad not to be sitting with them anymore (which will just mean more lunches to catch up!),  I have learnt an enormous amount since I have started and great deal of that is down to the team taking the time and being patient enough to show me. Thank you!:-D 

So overall I’d say a pretty good week all in all. Shortlisted for an award and a new job, can’t complain…

New member of the team!

By Scott Buist - Marketing Assistant

So I wanted to introduce myself as the newest member of the team. I very recently started (Monday last week) and can’t believe I’m two weeks into the job already! Time fly’s when you’re busy and that’s certainly what we are. I am employed to help the marketing team of the University of Bedfordshire during this very busy period, helping with all sorts from clearing to the new prospectus.

My first week was a bit hectic as all jobs are when you are learning the ropes. We had a team meeting within two hours of me starting, where Sarah, Michelle, Lauren and Rehanna were all discussing progress on their various projects and future ones. I had a blank face through some of it, but was fast making notes to look up when I got back. It was a quick learning curve to say the least!

Currently my mind has eased as I have a much better understanding of how the University operates. I have been given some exciting projects which I have got stuck into. I’m sure some of you will see my handy work in publications such as the new subject guides and the new Postgraduate prospectus, which are going to print as I write this message!.

 Hope you all have a great day. Let’s all hope this lovely weather continues!

Musings of a marketing muse...

by Rehanna Khan - Marketing Assistant

Hi Everyone

It’s Wednesday 24 July which officially marks two weeks since the big move into The Atrium and though it’s not been without its little dramatic moments, the process has been auspiciously smooth! From overcharged air conditioning (which is appreciated in sweltering temperatures but not-so-much when causing sore throats, headaches and the shivers), to out-of-use ladies WCs (we were kindly given use of the gents – and they were redirected downstairs), is about as bumpy as the ride got. I’m glad to report we’re all settled in now and enjoying the new open surroundings. Drop by sometime and we’ll be happy to give you a tour.

Welcome publication cover

This is always a busy time of year for Marketing – as is most of the year bar when we’re on leave. We’re always on the go with something to do so there’s never a dull moment. From conversion activities in full swing, our clearing campaign on the ready, to the Postgraduate Prospectus 2014 on the verge of being sent to print, updating thirteen subject guides and preparing the welcome (Hi) publication for new students, there’s really no time for a summer siesta! 

Prayer congregation in mosque

In other news… It’s day 15 of the holy month of Ramadan - meaning we’ve hit the midway mark already, leaving just 14 days. I admit it’s difficult to be in a state of nil-by-mouth for 18 hours on average per day, but then it wasn’t designed to be easy. Ramadan is the opportunity for Muslims to foster a sense of self-awareness and reflect on our lives. It offers the time to grow for the better and focus on the spiritual aspects of everyday life through practicing patience, discipline, compassion for the less fortunate and gratitude for what we have. The global unity is what always strikes me.

Have a blessed day!

And the award goes to...

By Lauren Hague - Marketing Assistant

Look who’s back!

First Monday morning in the new office and my first ever blog post! (please bear this in mind when reading!) As Sarah mentioned in her previous post, I have been doing a whistle stop tour of Central America for the past two and half weeks trying to fit in as much as possible.

From this... Nicaragua - Ometepe

Including a little white water rafting and ziplining – activities that are all very out of character for me but can't say I didn't make the most of my time! I had a great time and met lots of new people but for now back to the real world…

…and to welcome my return (I like to think) the marketing team were invited to the Heist Awards 2013 last week. The Heist Awards are the leading awards for education marketing so we were very proud that as a university we were shortlisted for four awards:

Best Postgraduate prospectus (That’s us!)
Best use of Digital/social Marketing (Digital Marketing team  - shameless plug for their blog)
Best Website (Digital Marketing team)
Best Internal Communication campaign (Learning Resources team)

And I am very proud to say that although we didn’t win Best Postgraduate Prospectus we did win Silver for Best Website (take a look at the award-winning site) and we won Bronze for Best Internal Communication campaign. Bravo Learning Resources and Digital teams!  

To this... Manchester - Heist Awards 2013

It was a great night had by all. The awards had a movie theme to them, complete with ‘fake’ paparazzi on arrival and clapper board place settings, so even though we didn’t win at least we got to rub shoulders with cardboard cut outs of Darth Vader and James Dean so all was not lost! To get an idea of how the evening went check out the Heist Awards and our Postgraduate twitter.

We have a busy and exciting couple of weeks coming up in the Marketing department including more prospectuses and the Clearing campaign getting fully underway (which I am sure you will hear more about as the weeks go by) so we have enlisted the help of an extra team member Scott for the next couple of weeks so he will contributing to our blog soon too so watch this space...

To this... Luton - New home in the new office

Away we go!

By Michelle Ramsumair, Marketing Administrator

Our new office - Atrium

Change is good they usually say, and this week proved no different. We are now settled into our new spacious office in the Atrium! Obviously we had the initial big decisions about how we want our desks and which crate to unpack first, but everyone seems happy. I do believe we need some scooters or segways to get around it though, can only dream right?

This is our home for the next few years whilst the big redevelopment of the University’s LRC is taking place. 

UCMK prospectus cover

The new University Campus Milton Keynes (UCMK) prospectus has been printed and was given out at the UCMK launch yesterday. This is just a snapshot of the front cover, but do look out for it on the website www.ucmk.ac.uk. 

Never having been so involved in the production of a prospectus it was definitely a challenge for me, but a learning experience as it went on. Can’t help but feel proud seeing the final publication. 

Clearing is also rapidly approaching and all hands on deck is the expression that’s probably most suitable.  It is an interesting time of the year where nothing is certain as to what the results of our efforts may be. Nonetheless, we push on with our creative juices flowing, ready to tackle anything that comes our way.

After all that’s what Marketing is about!

Meet the Marketing Team

By Sarah Hampton, Marketing Manager

Hi everyone! For all of you that don’t yet know me, I’m the Interim Marketing Manager within the central Marketing team. For our first blog post I thought it would be a good idea to tell you a little bit about what we do, and what you can expect to read on this blog.

But first things first, let’s introduce you to the team:

The Marketing Team:  Beverley Hoare, Sarah Hampton,
Michelle Ramsumair, Lauren Hague and Rehanna Khan.

Beverley Hoare – Deputy Director of Marketing

Beverley manages the Marketing, Digital Marketing, Telemarketing and Market Research teams and functions at the University of Bedfordshire. She’s responsible for strategic marketing planning, management of market research to inform strategic planning and management of through the line campaigns. And, she also oversees all aspects of brand management and development.

Sarah Hampton – Marketing Manager

I’ve been part of the Marketing team for six years now and am indeed a prospectus veteran, having clocked up more than 12 during my time here to date, soon to be 13 (watch this space for more information on this).  You’ll mostly find me lurking in our fabulous new Postgraduate Centre for a meeting and a hot chocolate, devising our marketing plans, and doing some serious number crunching at my desk to evaluate all of our activity.

Rehanna Khan – Marketing Assistant

Rehanna joined the team back in 2009 and is our current resident expert in all things undergraduate; focusing on a wide range of important activities from open events and conversion activities, to publications, photo shoots and profiling.

New Postgraduate website launched
earlier this year

Lauren Hague – Marketing Assistant

Lauren joined the University in 2011 and at the time of writing this blog post, is half way around the world on a holiday of a lifetime, as she backpacks her way around central America. Since joining the team, Lauren has been working on our Postgraduate campaigns and has even re-launched a brand-new Postgraduate website 

Michelle Ramsumair – Marketing Administrator

Michelle joined our Marketing team in 2011. Prior to this, she worked with us for many years as an intern whilst completing her undergraduate studies at Bedfordshire. She’s a team member with many talents, having worked on our on-campus branding and signage, media buying, and most recently a bespoke publication to launch our new Milton Keynes campus (more on this later this week).

So that’s who we are, but what exactly do we do I hear you say. Well that’s the purpose of this very blog. Every day in the Marketing team is different as there’s so many projects going on, all with one main goal: to provide a first-class service to our potential students, and staff members.

So be sure to keep checking back here regularly to read about our awards and achievements (a great nod to best practice), as well as some key projects that we’re introducing to benefit individual courses and departments, as well as the University as a whole. And, if you like what you see and want to know more, be sure to get in touch, we’re just a hop, skip and a jump away from another meeting with the promise of hot chocolate! J