An update from Bedfordshire’s press office

Being a communications officer with writer’s block can be an absolute nightmare. For my first blog of 2018, I was really struggling to think of something to blog about, which is annoying when you make your living from writing!

So I have decided to fill you in on what I have been doing in recent weeks and write about some of the stories I’ve been working on.

I had the pleasure of meeting a lovely Mental Health Nursing student called Fern, who has been shortlisted for not one, but two awards in this year’s Student Nursing Times Awards, which is a huge achievement.

Congratulations to @uniofbeds student @Fern45075972 who has been shortlisted for two Student Nursing Times Awards! #SNTA @NursingTimes pic.twitter.com/535yfVtf3M

— UoB Press Office (@uobnews) February 27, 2018

While on a placement, Fern did a great deal of work on helping young people in CAMHS services transition into adult services. I worked for a mental health trust in a previous life so I’m very aware of how difficult this transition period can be. It’s fantastic to see that Fern has been a driving force for making things better for her service users.

You can read more about Fern here.

Bedfordshire students seem to be on a roll at the moment when it comes to awards. Students from the TV Production and Media Production courses have been shortlisted for accolades in this year’s Royal Television Society’s (RTS) East Student Awards.

We have had students shortlisted in five categories which is absolutely amazing, and testament to all their hard work, and to the dedication of their tutors. I’ll have everything crossed for 15 March when the students will find out if they have won anything.

If you get a chance, check out the students' work here.

I also got the chance to do something a bit different and go along to watch a live interview with Hollyoaks actor Duayne Boachie. Duayne was studying at the University when he got his big break into acting a few years ago and it was great to see him return and share insight into his career and offer tips and guidance to current students.

I have also been preparing for our graduation ceremonies taking place in March. I always enjoy covering these and this year I’m really keen to find some fantastic student success stories to share with the wider world – watch this space!

At our Luton campus today @Hollyoaks actor and former Beds student @DuayneBoa gave a masterclass to Media Performance students, here's a snippet of his Q&A pic.twitter.com/tKuaqckyW4

— uniofbeds (@uniofbeds) February 14, 2018

Navigating the PR minefield of Clearing

A level results day and the opening of Clearing for University PR teams is competitive in the best of years and this year by anyone’s standards is not the best of years.

The number of people applying for UK university places has fallen by more than 25,000 (4%) compared to last year. Top that with the lifting of the student number cap, Brexit, bad press around tuition fees and student perceptions around value for money and it’s tough out there.

The priority for the Press team at the University of Bedfordshire has been to stay on message. We recognise the challenges our students are facing but we champion the benefits of a university education, the support we can offer our students, and the life changing experiences available to those who choose to study at Bedfordshire.

In the build up to A level results days our strategy has been to put a human face to our messaging. The press team can shout about it but it’s much more effective if it’s a first-hand experience. To that end we showcase the experience of successful graduates who have come through Clearing to inspire potential applicants. We also field our student support staff to discuss all the help, support and advice available to our students, and help students who have benefited from that support tell their story.

On A level results day – it’s a whole new ball game - we’re pitching for broadcast media. Regionals are interested in the story after the opening of the results envelope, while nationals are looking for a broader sector message.

Luckily we were able to do both; while we may not have had Lenny Henry answering our phone lines aka Birmingham City  (yes I was jealous) we did manage interviews across national and regional broadcast media on the day letting applicants know we are here, we have places and to please give us a call.

However Clearing isn’t over in a day and the press team has continued to look how it can best support the University’s recruitment efforts through the long tail of Clearing with case studies, messages around student support , value for money and of course the wonder of Freshers!

Achieving great press coverage

Running the press office for a university like Bedfordshire is an amazing job; and I have a feeling I may find anywhere else after this dull.

The adage ‘no day is ever the same’ really comes into play here – in fact no hour is ever the same!  Where else can you one minute be arranging an interview with a student on international placements, to the next sorting out filming for documentary for Ch4 on cyberstalking, to the next be pitching out case studies about our amazing female academics for International Women’s Day.

The University of Bedfordshire’s Press Office really is an inspiring place to work.

We’ve had particular success in highlighting our reputation around applied research. Over the past year we’ve covered everything from a new way to teach PE, England’s teenage pregnancy strategy, alcohol abuse in the over 50s, care robots, and 3D printing new limbs (a hand for an 8 year old boy – and it works).

The University’s applied research is easily relatable and the media understand its impact on people’s lives.  Our recent press coverage has included the Today programme, the Times, BBC Online, Newsnight, BBC Breakfast and 5Live.

However the press coverage for our latest piece of applied research on care robots exceeded even my wildest dreams.

It’s a great story – we’re helping to develop culturally aware robots that can improve the care of the elderly. It’s an international collaboration funded through the EU and the Japanese Government and has multiple international partners. Our role is evaluating the project - does it work?

The research was covered everywhere from the Today programme, to 5Live to the Times to BBC online; it was also picked up the Press Association. This was the same day that Trump put his Muslim travel ban into place but we still made it on to the BBC homepage for about four hours which was very exciting.

The return on investment for this piece of work was incredible.

We had over 300 individual pieces of coverage.  The print coverage alone gave circulation figures of 12.5m and it generated around 6bn unique page views.

If you want to find out more about this story take a look at this footage of Dr Chris Papadopoulos who leads on this research for the University, being interviewed by John Humphrys on the Today programme.

Insights from the press officer who couldn't stay away

I should probably start by introducing myself. I’m Caroline Jacobi, the Communications Officer here at the University.

I’ve been in the role for around 6 months but this isn’t my first time working at the University. I first joined in 2011 as Communications Administrator. I was a rookie, a journalism graduate who had struggled for a couple of years to find a ‘proper’ job after graduating – I don’t think I was alone in that struggle. Finding a job, especially a job you love, can be tricky.

One of my favourite shots of the Campus Centre

After a stint in the Communications Team, I moved onto pastures new, a couple of them actually, gaining more skills and knowledge with every new role I took on. But my heart stayed with Bedfordshire, so when I got the chance to return, I couldn’t’ say no. So here I am!

So what are the main changes I’ve noticed since returning? Well, the number of people in the team is probably the biggest one. In 2011 there were 5 of us, now there’s only 3. So as you can imagine, it’s never quiet, but we secretly like it that way. I mean, who wants to sit around all day with nothing to do?

Luton itself has also had a bit of a face lift. Being a local girl, it’s great to see that people are really working hard to make Luton better. The amount of investment in the town is also very exciting and it will be interesting to see how these plans become a reality.

Lovely photo of Luton in the sunshine

The media in Luton has changed somewhat too. BBC Three Counties Radio has moved out of their headquarters on Regent Street to new premises in Dunstable, and we’ve sadly lost one of our newspapers, the Luton on Sunday. But there’s plenty going on to keep the Luton News busy!

While there have been changes over the past couple of years, a few things have stayed the same. The MARC department is still full of talented and dedicated people working hard to recruit students, help students apply for courses and marketing what the University does.

The University is still full of teaching staff passionate about their work. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a couple of them but as time goes by, I want to discover even more and really shine a light on the great work that goes on here.

Graduations are my favourite events to cover

And of course, there’s still students. Lots and lots of students! I’ve come across some great stories already about our students doing all sorts of interesting and exciting things. If you want to keep updated with all our news, visit our news page.

What's my name again? Clearing, campaigns and creative pitches - all in a days work

By Sarah Hampton, Marketing Manager

What's my name? Where do I live? What do I do? What day is it? These are just some of the many questions you'll find us asking ourselves over the next few weeks. With the mad Clearing rush in full force, all of the days start to blur into one. The multi-tasking marketers strike again...

We're making it happen for many
students who we hope to join this Sept!

Clearing...
And so Clearing has finally begun for many students in search of that university place. But for us over in Marketing, Clearing has been high on our agenda for months now. Although results day was all but yesterday, planning for this infamous campaign first started way back in November, so it's great for us to finally see the campaign taking shape, and to hear the busy phone lines ringing, whilst we constantly refresh our dashboards to track our performance and make adjustments to our campaign targeting.

Whilst Clearing often ensues months of organised chaos, I always particularly enjoy the chance for us marketers to do what we do best - be creative! Each year in Clearing, we have the opportunity to trial new innovations and initiatives to grab the headlines, boost traction in the media, and beguile and inspire the minds of our audience. Following on from last year's Flash mob, we've had heaps of fun working with the press team to launch some Guerrilla marketing techniques in the run up to results day; this involved projecting our marketing messages and campaign creatives on to a series of buildings and landmarks. If you haven't already seen it, check it out below...

Our nice and new shiny
shell scheme

We've also been supporting the Recruitment team as they gear up to lead a series of community events in a whole host of locations, including: Luton, Bedford, Milton Keynes and London. You can see left, a new shell scheme which I put together (design wise of course - I can not take any credit for assembling the actual thing, and so a big well done is due to recruitment for overcoming the ultimate flat pack challenge). These 'Pods' as well call them lead on our verbal brand themes, and this nice, new piece of kit enables the team to offer more engaging and interactive sessions with the local community - providing a real insight into what exciting subjects we offer. So I'm really looking forward to seeing how the team gets on.

Campaigns...
Whilst Clearing remains at the forefront of our minds for the next few weeks, we've already been looking ahead and turning our attention to our 2016 enquirer recruitment, which we officially started back in March. The photoshoots have taken place, the artwork is almost finalised, and the plan is moments away from being approved (I'll get round to it shortly, I'm sure!). But if working on two consecutive intakes and recruitment cycles isn't fun enough, let's throw a third one in there for good measure shall we? Yes, not only are we working on 2015 and 2016 recruitment, but we are well away and are already working on our 2017 marketing. And this comes in the form of our publications tender which took place this week, over at the Putteridge Bury campus.

And creative pitches
I always enjoy the publications tenders. Whilst the admin aspect can take a lot of time, it's really refreshing to meet the different agencies, and see how they respond to the challenges and brief that you set. This tender was particularly interesting, as 4 of the 5 agencies were entirely new to us. So we set out on a fact finding mission to grill each company in turn, to make sure we haven't just got a stand out creative, but the man power behind it to deliver it. Although a long day, the panel had lots of fun, and came away feeling inspired. Keep a look out in future posts for more on this - as we'll share more, once the agency has been appointed.

For now, it's the end of my blog post, and back to the day job and the ever growing list of things to do before my holiday (woo - 2 weeks to go!). So whilst I'm slowly getting excited, there still seems to be an awful lot to do before that holiday milestone even starts to begin to feel like it's within my reach - right, back to work - what year is it again?