My year in MARC...

Where do I start?


Well it’s been a very interesting year, with lots of personal development problem solving and I think successes. When I started we were just at the tail end of clearing 2017, most of which was over my head if I’m honest. Sara was on her own managing most of the activities and doing a great job. I didn’t want to burden her with too many questions so tried to give her space to begin with, eventually I ended up bombarding her with questions which continued for the last year.

Ellie joined us not long after and the focus was really about knitting the team together. We worked hard on the Feb starts campaign which was a great success exceeding our target of 50 students registered by 100. It was evident to me from an early stage that I had a great team with a really good mix of skills, most importantly we all got along and respected each other. I also inherited some great plans which were already in place and huge credit goes to Sarah for working so hard to enable me to take over what was clearly a well-run ship. This enabled me to soak up the role and tasks and really hit the ground running.

The other key project was the 2019 UG Prospectus which was in its initial phase when I joined. This was something I personally relished as a project. Those that know me well will know I’m all about graphic design, functionality and InDesign. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel with this project but I did see some key areas I believed we could build on, course openers and title design to name a few. This would be a project that I would start - and ironically this week we have had our first focus group for the 2020 Prospectus - and end on.

The market has been and is still in a difficult position with competition higher than ever and students having more opportunities to trade up. Andy has been a go to for me and has really helped to break down how things are looking and where they might be going. (Not to mention a constant proof reader, soundboard and fellow movie buff). With all this in mind we decided to stupidly or maybe ingenuously design the clearing campaign in-house. This ended up being a well received project that the the team are immensely proud of as well as fatigued with. Seriously though it was an amazing task and everyone in and outside of the team really pulled together to achieve this. This enabled us to understand the process on a deeper level, be more flexible with the late deadlines and also be fully brought in to the concept. A special thanks to Beverley for actually allowing me to work on this and to Sara and Ellie who had to constantly put up with my crazy idea's. 

Anyway I could go into loads of detail about the last year but it really wouldn't be that interesting to those outside of MARC. What I will say is that it's been a fun year, I have learnt loads about marketing being a manager and more about the University. I have made loads of new friends and I really do owe it all to my wonderful team who have been the main reason I have loved working here.