Marketing Team blog

The Wanderer Returns

Krystle Hall, Campaign Officer

Since my last blog I have been on holiday to Gran Canaria.  It was a relaxing, sun drenched week filled with ice cream sundaes, sea, sand and beautiful sunsets.  We stayed in a safari themed hotel that had animal sound effects to plunge you into the depths of the amazon, life-size animal sculptures that transport you to the Serengeti and there were even terrapins in ponds lining the walkways on the ground floor.  (The temptation was great but I can confirm that I didn’t steal a terrapin).  It was wonderful.  Here for your viewing pleasure is me doing a double teapot next to one of said statues.

Now it is back to the world of work with a bump.  I spent a good day just going through my emails but now I’m back in the groove (Groove is in the heartttttttt…anyone, no. OK.)

 

Winter is here

 

The Clearing advertising schedule has finally come to a close; I have been arranging for all our outdoor advertising to be taken down.  The next step will be reviewing all the data collated during the campaign and scrutinising it to produce a detailed and comprehensive campaign evaluation that we can use to hone our future activity.  It will be interesting to see which platforms performed best and to look into how new forms of advertising fared in comparison to the tried and tested methods.  I will let you know. 

I have been progressing the Winter artwork and as promised will unveil it in this blog.

“It was on a dreary night of September that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me (pens, note pad, shutterstock images)… the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my hard drive was close to full capacity, when, by the magic of dropbox’s online function, I saw the bright glowing eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and convulsed as letters emerged from its keyboard…Behold… (too dramatic?)”

 

The strap continues and develops the ‘student journey’ message set out in Clearing and conveys that our outstanding teaching, based on world leading research and excellent student support will bring out our students potential. 

The artwork sets out to visually representing UoB unearthing students hidden talents/skills/passions.  The imagery encapsulates the idea that UoB students enter as ‘diamonds in the rough’ and emerge as globally connected entrepreneurs.  

The imagery used is dynamic to appeal to creative thinkers.  It demonstrates that as an institution we nurture and encourage the entrepreneurial mind-set of our students.  The graduates used embody entrepreneurial spirit; the glowing vector in each artwork symbolises that which is unique in each graduate that makes them stand out from the competition.   We are very proud of our 2014 NSS results so that also features prominently in the artwork.

I have really been up against the clock with this project and am relieved to see it finalised.  I am a perfectionist and feel that I could have developed the designs further but sometimes you just have to do the best that you can in the time that you have to work with, so I’ve done just that.  With the scheduling, briefing, developing and delivery complete, most of the Winter Campaign artwork is now live, so look out for it on buses, trains, phone boxes and in cinemas etc. 

Our digital team have created a bespoke landing page where you can watch the graduates talking about their experiences, get information on our forthcoming open days and live chat with our advisors.  Check it out here: http://www.beds.ac.uk/discover
 

Tender Time

It is that time of year when we tender for a new prospectus/creative campaigns agency.  Last week the Marketing Team received pitches from the shortlisted agencies.  This is the first time that I have been on the panel for a university tender; the appointment process is very different in the private sector.  It must have been a very nerve wracking experience for those presenting, my heart went out to them.  Lucky for us there were some strong contenders to choose from.  I felt really inspired seeing the different agency designs and I am really looking forward to embarking on a new creative partnership.

Later Skaters,

Krystle