2015, let’s do this thing

Krystle Hall, Campaign Officer

A belated happy new year to you all! I have emerged from my festivity coma and remembered my name, profession and passwords so 2015, let’s do this thing.

As Sarah mentioned in the previous post we had our first ‘meet the suppliers day’ on Wednesday. It was a great opportunity to peruse the latest products, approaches and gain fresh market insight. With Clearing Campaign planning looming it was great to emerge from the day feeling clued up and inspired.

Speaking of Clearing, I have plunged into evaluating the activity that we ran in 2014 and what a beast of a campaign it was. We rolled out a plethora of platforms over a 4 month period that had the whole MARC department breaking out in a sweat. I’m currently wading through all the data and analysing what was most effective and what wasn’t. We put detailed and robust tracking in place so I have a wealth of data to play with. I will share my findings with you in due course. That was my first ever campaign at the University, I can hardly believe that I am about to begin planning it again; how time flies when you’re having fun.  

So what else is happening…Well, now that we have a Radio LaB logo finalised, I am working with our designer to produce a set of brand guidelines and will be looking to put together a plan to push out the brand imminently.

With the launch of our new Paramedic Science course comes some shiny new artwork produced by our very own Graeme Stenhouse. Feast your eyes on these beauties:

We did a lot of market research in preparation for the Aylesbury campaign to drill down to exact profiling, geo-targeting and appropriate platforms etc. which resulted in 2 bespoke plans. We are running a range of advertising including radio, print and extensive digital search and display. We also have a range of advertorials published in the local press throughout January. I got to interview the new Paramedic Science course co-ordinator, Mark Cutler, which was great. He is really passionate about his subject and is excited to begin the new course in March with a dynamic approach.  I also interviewed a couple of our students, Catherine Jelly, who is studying Adult Nursing and Giles Loch, who is studying Mental Health Nursing. Both students are currently on placement and it was really interesting to hear how they got into their respective fields, their practical experiences and their future aspirations. I think what came across most was the high level of support and guidance that they had received from their tutors which is always wonderful to hear.  

My top priority at the moment is Pre-Clearing. I have been working with our new design agency Fabrik on the artwork which has reached completion. It’s now a case of production and delivery. We are all about invention and innovation in MARC; with cutting edge market intelligence at the forefront and the Pre-Clearing plan is no exception. There has been a real seismic shift in our approach to campaigns towards digital platforms. We have a large range of inventory on external education sites, as well as, a strong outdoor presence in Luton, Milton Keynes, Stevenage and Hemel Hempstead. Look out for the new campaign artwork winging its way to you soon.

Anyway, I better get back to it but type to you soon,

Krystle