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

One month in and busy with exciting Graduation, Clearing and other campaigns

By Scott Buist – Marketing Assistant

Well what can I say? It’s been a busy four weeks since I started working within the University’s marketing team and I’ve settled in well. I feel I understand the dynamics of the team now and have a much better understanding of the University and how it operates.

As a team we have all been very busy with various different projects which we are running. Namely our subject guides which are now almost finished. We’re working closely with our in house designer to make sure they’ve got the most up-to-date and exciting information in them, ready to send to our Undergraduate students later in September. The main difference this year is that they’re going to be digital versions only, so watch this space for when they go live on our website. As mentioned in the previous blog posts, our 2014 prospectus has been put to bed and is with the printers – we’re really excited to see the printed thing after all of this time. Plans are now well underway for our 2015 publications; plan early as they say!

I am currently working on our award-winning e-zine: PG Life, which we send to our Postgraduate enquirers and subscribers each month, and so far it’s going well. I’ve been out and about on campus this week interviewing some of our students which you’ll be able to see in the next issue. We are working to a tight deadline but I am sure we will succeed. Sign up via: www.beds.ac.uk/pgstudy if you’re not already subscribed. And, if you have any University news and stories to share with us, let us know – we’re always on the hunt for exciting content to share with our prospective students.

Normally it would be Sarah and Lauren who produce the e-zine, but for the next month or so it’s all down to me! I wanted to say a huge congratulations to Lauren who having completed a degree in digital media; her move over to our digital team seems like a natural career path for her and I am sure she will love it and, it’s only a stone’s throw away from us at the moment, so I am sure we will be able to benefit from her expertise.

With Clearing about to kick off this week (15 August to be precise), I am sure that the next few weeks will keep us all as busy, if not more so than we have already been.

There's no stopping us now

By Michelle Ramsumair - Marketing Administrator

Here's my proof!

I have come back to the buzzing office after a couple days off. One of these days included climbing through the trees, pushing your body to the limit and playing Tarzan. Let me put it this way, Go Ape is amazing and highly recommended, but then I soon realised, coming back to work, that Clearing is very much the same as it's just as crazy! As I don’t have any photos, certain colleagues such as Lauren doubt my adventurous side.

Clearing campaign 2013 (bus rear)

August has finally arrived and ongoing preparations for this busy month and Clearing continue. No matter how prepared we are, it will only get busier, but our teams are ready to hit the ground running come 15 August, so bring it on! If you haven’t seen already or read the previous post, our Clearing campaign has started early this year.

We have a lot going on from buses and billboards which are already up, to...well...you will just have to wait and see. Other universities have begun early this year too, so as well as our own promoting we are keeping an eye out to see who is doing what. It’s rather interesting and nothing wrong with some healthy competition. I managed to catch a glimpse of our advert on some buses locally and in London.

Maurice the Marketing Penguin

Lauren’s last week with us has arrived sadly. However, she is just moving to the Digital Marketing team which is a stone throw away on the next pod. So we will just have to shout a little louder to speak to her really. We are all very happy for her moving upwards and it’s nice to know we will still be supporting one another.