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.