A silk purse from a sow’s ear

In the last month or so, I’ve attended a couple of conferences. I was pleased, on both occasions, to deputise for other colleagues in MARC, and hope I didn't cause too much collateral damage, what with my reticence, cynicism, monkey boots and too many layers of clothing.

The conferences I attended:

• The Future of Student Recruitment, by the IDP Connect folk (the new name for the WhatUni and CUG), in the wonderful garden area at the Barbican
• UCAS’ Teachers and Advisors Fair, in the rather grand and gilded surroundings of The Principal Hotel in Manchester.

Go me, RIGHT?

Kingo in conference

Well sort of. Yes. And no. I was a shoe in for Marketing in the first instance and for Recruitment in the second. Both disciplines are, in honesty, beyond me. Yes, I’m one of the old hands in MAR, but I’d struggle to get sell a fully plumbed in water cooler in a desert. My expertise, such as it is, is in Market Research. Which despite and almost because of its bad press, requires scruples and a level- or at worst a pretence - of even-handedness.

I had to represent this. Our blurb for the UCAS conference. I mainly achieved it through staring into the middle distance.

The UCAS event had some interesting and (for me) relevant sessions. It was also really enlightening to hear about teachers and advisors’ perspectives. And guess what? They’re not happy about unconditional offers. Can’t blame them. If you aren’t ‘up on’ the thorny issue, where have you been? Here’s a Bob-piece on our response to the practice and how we’re dipping our toes in the filthy pond of despair.

The UCAS event was a two day affair. Sadly, our allowance for meals didn’t stretch to the £60 asking price for the UCAS dinner, so I slummed it for dinner round the student quarter around Oxford Road. Two conversations struck me. Nothing to do with HE, but the first (point 1 below) definitely from a party connected, presumably to either Manchester or Manchester Metropolitan University:

1.  A table of people were wondering what kind of monster would eat crumpets without butter or spread. Can see their point. They were referring to a mutual colleague who indulged in such fantastic behaviour. A monster. “Off his head half the time,” one of the group observed;
2. In a different establishment, in a room dedicated, rather perplexingly, to Jack Daniels, a group of three people discussed the likelihood of being sent to prison for a driving violation if the offender already has six points on their licence. Wasn’t a discussion I wanted to get into.

I’m going to try and bring some more meaningful feedback to the MAR team. Some of it will almost certainly appear in my intranet feedback page. Shout if you’re interested, in the meantime.

So anyway, I'm off to see The Sleaford Mods at the 100 Club in London this evening. I often post a clip of music at the music at the end of my pieces, but The Sleaford Mods are big on swearing, and not so big on tunes. Instead, here's a beautiful piece of British 60s jazz, by the Rendell Carr Quintet. Check out that Coltrane-esque soprano. These guys were on top of their game. I missed out on a recent repressing of their much sought for albums and feel sad about it. 

Full of PRide after awards win

Sarah Hampton, Marketing Manager

After a week off in the sunshine, I'm finally back in the office and what a first few days back it's been.

Two Gold Awards for Team UoB!

On Friday the Marketing team got glammed up and headed on over to the CIPRide Awards, as we had been short-listed for not one, but two coveted awards. As I was still over in Gran Canaria, I sat with cocktail in hand, in the hotel bar (the only place with wifi!) sporadically refreshing my twitter feed to see how we had done. Much to my delight, we scooped a Gold award for Best Publication - for our 2014 Undergraduate Prospectus. After whooping in the bar and celebrating with a few more cocktails, I was surprised to see that we had won another Gold award - this was a special judges prize (and the second consecutive year that we had won this award) for the Best Use of Research, Planning, Measurement and Evaluation.

Celebrating on stage with an
award win

This really was a great achievement for the Marketing team, and really is testament to the hard work that is undertaken throughout the year. A lot of time and effort is placed into producing our university publications, but in also evaluating the performance of all work, and assessing the ROI and value in all that we do. The team I'm told, had a great evening out, although were left a little on the hungry side after letting the canapes pass them by.

Gold for Best Publication: @uniofbeds for their Undergraduate 2015 Prospectus #PRideATC
— CIPR East Anglia (@CIPR_EastAnglia) November 7, 2014

Midland Hotel - Manchester

And just when you think it can't get any better! Paul and Lauren from the Digital team, alongside Beverley and I headed off to the Midland Hotel in Manchester only yesterday, as we were up for another award. This time the Marketing team was up for Best Faculty Campaign at the Prospects Postgraduate Awards for our work done last year to increase applications to PGT Sport courses.

Celebrating our award win

After a hearty three course dinner, and a good catch up with our contacts at Prospects, the awards were upon us. We were up in the penultimate category, against three other universities and so left to sweat it out until the end. As the speaker started to talk about the winner, I could see that Paul was already celebrating - I of course had missed the subtle references of a 'photo finish' - which of course was relating to our sport campaign. Once it was announced we cheered as we made our way up to the stage to collect our very first award for a marketing campaign.

Award for Best Faculty Campaign

This brings us to a close for this years' award season. So, until next year it's back to work on our 2016 Undergraduate Prospectus, as well as our main corporate campaigns: Winter, Jan Start and Pre-Clearing - and who knows, maybe next year, it could be one of these initiatives that we'll be celebrating... :-)

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.

On the case

By Sarah Hampton - Marketing Manager

Arriving at the Case Conference

This week is my first week back in the office, and also my first official week as the new Marketing Manager, having been away at the Case Europe Annual Conference following on from the recent bank holiday. As my remit has now expanded to look after both Undergraduate and Postgraduate Marketing (In my former role as Marketing Officer my main domain was Postgraduate), I decided that I needed to refresh my knowledge, and what better way to reacquaint myself than by attending a three day conference dedicated to Higher Education!

Pen poised; fetching purple lanyard - that can only mean 1thing. I'm @mcr_central ready to begin the @caseconference @CASE_Europe #ceac2013
— Sarah Hampton (@Sarah_Hampton) August 27, 2013

Manchester Convention Centre

This years' Case Conference was held at the Manchester Convention Centre, and played host to more than 900 delegates from all areas of Marketing, Communications, Digital Marketing, Alumni Relations and Fundraising. It really provided a great networking opportunity, and in my usual sponge-like way, I was able to soak up lots of interesting information about what challenges other universities are facing, and how they are tackling them. It was also great to catch up with some companies that we've worked with closely over the last year including the Guardian, and Graduate Prospects.

Reputation, reputation, reputation!
One of the many sessions at Case.

The conference itself can be quite intensive, with back-to-back sessions lined up within each specialised area. For the duration of the three days I opted to follow the 'Marketing track' as closely as possible, attending sessions such as "We're all marketers now - engaging the organisation in the development of a marketing culture" and "Stand apart from the crowd - uncovering and proving your unique selling points" - both of which are quite topical and timely for us at Bedfordshire. I also attended a session run by the University of Reading, entitled "The 3 R's: Reputation, reputation, reputation" (see above image). Quite an insightful look into managing brands, and how not to - with a few humourous case studies thrown in there for good measure.

China Town, Manchester

To round up my experience in Manchester, I teamed up with our very own Alumni Relations Manager, Lucia Limb (who was also a delegate); and we did what any self respecting tourist would do: head on down to China town, and so that is exactly what we did! We were spoilt for choice as we took in the sights, sounds, and delicious smells; and promptly settled down for what was an incredible feast of food.

For some reading this blog, you'll be wondering why I'm not reporting back on the first evening in Manchester which was spent with my new found HE friends, well, in short it involved a fabulous rum bar, many cocktails, and a very slow start to the next day. But that's for another blog, another time. ;-)