We're still clearing that path, someone get a leaf blower

Krystle Hall, Campaign Officer

The Clearing Campaign is still going strong with all hands on deck in the MARC Department.  We have ambitious targets to hit and everyone is working very hard to achieve them.  It’s been great seeing all the artwork erected in various formats in the local area.  Passers-by have looked on bemused as I have tried to capture billboards and lamppost banners on my mobile whilst striving not to walk into any hedges.

I went to the Odeon cinema in Milton Keynes yesterday to see ‘Million Dollar Arm,’ my boyfriend’s choice, he is always forcing me to watch sport and related documentary’s about former basketball players that have succumbed to the dark, drug fuelled underworld of sport only to emerge on the other side as motivational speakers (!).  Needless to say I was hesitant to sit through a film about both cricket and baseball but it turned out to be a typical feel good Disney endeavour.  Anyway I digress, my point being as I sat through trailers for ‘Lucy’ and ‘The hundred foot journey’ I was proud to see our Clearing advert flash up on screen.  It was good to see that it is still going strong.

We have even extended, upscaled and added further activity to really strengthen and optimise the campaign.  We have extended and added outdoor advertising, expanded our events remit and added additional Student Room, UCAS, What Uni , Metro and other University sector advertising online.  We are using detailed tracking and analytics to augment the campaign and ensure that we are using the best possible methods to get the brand out there.  I am also working on a new radio advert to refresh the message that it’s not too late to join us.

Winter is coming

For the past few weeks I have been working on the new artwork concept for the Winter Campaign.  We want to take the current Clearing concept of the student journey and develop it further to show the graduate journey.  We have been looking at how to retain what we created with Clearing but take it to the next level.  Coming up with creative ideas is easy, the hard part is making your ideas work on the page; making a functional advert that delivers whilst retaining edge and innovation.  And time is never on our side.  After playing around with different ideas we have now developed a mocked up design.  But you can’t see it yet, because it isn’t ready; our (proverbial Frankenstein’s) monster is yet to have life pumped in it.

But I can tell you that the strap will be ‘Discover a path to your future’ which continues and develops the ‘clearing a path to your future’ message (see what we did there; of course you did it’s not that deep).  The artwork sets out to visually represent UoB unearthing students hidden talents/skills/passions in the form of a glowing image against a dusky backdrop; it’s very dramatic. 

I was out of the office last week doing the photography and videography for it.  We have some great graduates on board from a range of disciplines.  It was really fascinating to hear about the different experiences and journeys that they had undertaken.  I found it inspirational to see what our graduates have achieved and it was great to hear how passionately they felt about their experiences here.  Some were recent graduates who had obtained scholarships, some had high profile jobs at well know companies and others ran their own businesses.  Our resident Marketing Assistant Sophia Meola had her arm twisted to represent Business.  I got some lovely ethereal, ballerina shots of her.

As ever we are very ambitious in our vision. For our Sports graduates Joe Strange and Ryan Freckleton I wanted to get dynamic motion shots of them running and jumping which meant taking shot after shot to get the image just right.  A photo shoot with us isn’t any ordinary photo-shoot it’s a chance to both pose and get your sweat on.    

We experimented with directional lighting to create extreme states and produce depth and interest in the photographs.  The test was articulating the vision in my head so that the photographer and model understood exactly what I was trying to achieve.  A lot of it was trial and error as solutions which made sense in theory didn’t always work out in practice.  Nonetheless I am confident that the resulting shapes and hues will really give this campaign a sophisticated, corporate feel that will set us apart from the competition and take the brand from strength to strength.

I’m sure you can tell that I am really excited to start working on the artwork properly now that we have got all the photography sorted; can’t wait to see it come to life.

Anyone who knows me will know that I love a spread sheet, sad I know, and I have been too busy of late to give my spread sheets the attention they deserve so off I go to love and nurture them back to present day accuracy.

Type soon,

Krystle