The other side of the table

So, if anyone reading this studied Advertising and Marketing Communications (or a similar subject), like me, at university you’ll know the feeling of pretending to work in an agency, creating a solution to a brief and then preparing and presenting your solution to your “client” (/university lecturers). Well, a few weeks ago I got to sit on the other side of the table and listen to various agencies pitch their ideas to us as part of our tender process for the 2017 prospectuses. It was a really interesting and great experience for me to be part of this and to see the different dynamics of the agencies and the various approaches to our brief. Over the course of the day we definitely saw some really great ideas and by the end of the day my creativity levels were on over-drive! And, as scary as it is to think that we’re already thinking about the 2017 prospectuses, I’m really excited to start the process. Although I have worked on the 2016 PG prospectus, this will be the first time I have worked on a project like this from tender to print!

As part of my role I produce the monthly PG e-zine, PG Life. This month I met with Prof. Karen Randell, head of Media Arts and Production, to film a video about the PG courses available and the facilities that we have. I hadn’t been to the TV studio here at Beds so I was really excited to go over and see what it was all about! I was really impressed with the facilities available and it was great to hear from Karen about the various opportunities available to our students. 

I’ve also been working on the Students’ Guide to University and the Parents’ Guide to University applicants as well as producing some bookmarks and postcards for our open day events coming up (don’t forget to book your place). I really enjoy working with our designers; sending them a brief and seeing it come together! As well as producing promotional materials for the open days I've also been writing content for our CRM site, Facebook and Twitter accounts and creating e-newsletters. 

I almost forgot to mention Clearing! The office has been a bit quieter the last couple of weeks as the admissions team have gone over to the PG centre with a specialised Clearing team to help students with any Clearing queries they may have. The Recruitment team are also out and about at various events promoting Beds. I keep seeing our stand when I go into town on my lunch break (must.stop.spending...) and it looks like there's so much going on, so if you see it make sure you get involved!

It’s all go, go, go!

Happy belated Easter wishes to everyone. After a relaxing six day break, we’re back into the swing of things in the MARC department.

I’ve been here eight weeks now, and it’s really flown over! So, what’s going on…what’s keeping me busy…

Prospectuses are coming

We’re now in the middle of not one, but two prospectuses- UCMK and PG. So lots of proofreading, liaising with departments, coordinating content and updating information. We’re expecting the first proof of the UCMK prospectus from the design agency on Monday 28 April, which will be very exciting- I love seeing a piece of work come together!

Open day

Our Bedford Campus

We’re hosting our next PG open day on 22 May at Luton and Bedford. As conversion is really important to us, I put a six week plan together for the event and I’ve been pushing those plans through with the help of my colleague, Clare. From setting up Google ads with the Digital Team and pushing messages on social media, to placing ads in external newsletters and around our campuses. We’ve had a lot of people sign up so far, which is great news with almost four weeks left to go before the event.

In between my larger projects I have been working on our next edition of B4 Beds- our undergraduate e-zine, briefing course specific leaflets for our UCAS event on 23 June at UoB, filming graduations, and attempting to edit videos (I’m still getting to grips with the software).

My development

I’m really excited that I have been signed up to attend our next PG forum in London at the beginning of May- an introduction to PG. This is an opportunity for people from different universities to get together and discuss their thoughts on postgraduate study and share ideas and best practice for increasing student numbers. I’m looking forward to attending and I’ll have an update on this in my next blog. I am also going to be attending a print workshop later in the year and spending some time shadowing the Digital Team. I’ve learned a lot already in my eight weeks and I'm looking forward to that continuing.

So, as expected, lot’s going on and I’m loving it!