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!

What's in a building? Or something OTHER than Clearing

Right, so most universities and a host of other organisations will talk about "state of the art facilites". Hands up - we do, here at the University of Bedfordshire. "State of the art" is almost certainly the cliche of all cliches when it comes to describing estates and facilities, but looking round our (and others') campuses these days, there is some justification for feeling proud of our shiny buildings.

I first set foot on the then University of Luton’s campus as a member of staff in February 2002. I couldn’t believe it. I had thought that the terrible, terrible building in which I was being asked to work had been part of the tests during the interview, The hilariously named “Fairview” House – which still looms uncomfortably in the memories of many colleagues on the payroll – looked for all the world like a low cost location should anyone have wanted to remake The Shining or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in Luton. Sick building disease? Oh yes; even the pot plants threw themselves off the windowsills.

The old SU in Luton. It was horrid.

It was one of a number of weird, awful buildings on the estate. Former colleagues and alumni will shudder recalling:

•  the decrepit Student Union, whose most popular method of entry involved ducking down and squeezing through a missing railing;
• a much fabled, long since disappeared and possibly totally fictitious toilet, specially installed for HRM The Queen when she visited the University of Luton;
•  the eye poppingly daft Ambulance Station, which survived a £10s conversion to briefly become the Uni’s Post Room;
• various portacabins, containers, cupboards and other undesirable places, used for a whole host of daft reasons;
• the old Student Centre, whose undercroft was a favoured place for rats to overeat, get themselves stuck, then die.
  

Sub 2; one of the new Beds SU venues in Luton

Since then, the University of Bedfordshire has emerged and come a long way. Those fond of the monstrous 60s and 70s buildings of old might sneer at what they may see as the clinical ‘airport terminal’ campus feel, or the trendy 'Manhattan loft' feel of the School of Art's new facility in an old textiles warehouse in Luton town centre, while muttering about an over-abundance of cafes and thematic décor.

This is how campuses look these days and students – whether viewed as ‘partners’, ‘customers’, ‘consumers’ etc. - make a hefty commitment to higher education and have a quite justified expectation for universities to match.

And so, we have: the new Gateway building in Bedford, PG Centre in Luton, modern Nursing faciltiies in Aylesbury and Luton, an expanding UCMK (Milton Keynes) campus. And that's even before our brand spanking new library which is due to open its state of the art facilities early next year....

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?

We’re beaming with PRide

We're shortlisted for two PRide awards

So I’m excited to tell you we’ve been shortlisted for two PRide awards this year; one for best integrated campaign and one for best low budget campaign. The low budget campaign award entry is for our September open day campaign which I created and implemented so it’s really nice that my efforts have resulted in an award entry for the team. And of course my marketing colleagues, as well as other MARC teams, did help me implement the plans so I can’t take all of the credit. The team are really pleased and we have our fingers crossed that we can walk away with another award to add to the two PRide awards we won last year. The ‘do is on 1^st October, so we’ll be sure to let you know the outcome. I attended the awards ceremony last year, which was my first since working at the University, and it was a really fun night. Last year there was a welcome drink and canapés before the awards ceremony, but this year it’s a sit down 3 course meal followed by the awards ceremony, so I’m looking forward to attending again. It’s great to be shortlisted and it’s a nice night for the team to relax and revel in some of our successes, even if we don’t come away with an award.

Open day season is back

I can’t believe I’m saying this (or typing it!) but open days are back. Doesn’t time just fly when you’re…busy!

Our next open day is on 23 September; I have my plan at the ready and its full steam ahead. I’ve actually planned the full winter season of open days, so all activity up until December, which is a little scary!

So far I’ve created a web banner and I’m currently working with one of our freelance designers to create two external banners. The activity will start next week, so you’ll start to see our open day messaging appear on our homepage, social media and other platforms as we work our way through the plans.

Helping with recruitment collateral

I’ve also been helping out with recruitment support; I’ve created clearing posters, with more to follow in the next week, and I’m updating our school and college liaison guide. The guide has had a few big changes this year, so I’ve spent quite a lot of time on this, but it’s looking really nice and I’m ahead of schedule which I always like!

Evaluations

An old favourite and something I always mention- evaluations. I finished my first open day report for the 2015 cycle ‘enquirer’ events (which was used as a basis for the PRide awards entry, as it identified the success of the September open day in particular). I’m now working on a similar report for the 2015 cycle ‘applicant’ events. Let’s see if I can identify another award opportunity. 

Decisions....decisions...

And finally, outside of work its wedding season…

It’s just dawned on me that I have three weddings to attend in the next seven weeks- crikey!! The first is up North and I’m bridesmaid for an old friend so I’m super excited. The other two are local, and again I’m looking forward to celebrating those as well. I’ll try not to make my next blog about weddings.

Speak soon,

K

No rest for the wicked

Some of you would think that now most of the students have finished for the summer our work might start to wind down...well let me assure you, you are very, very wrong! We seem to have entered a very busy (but very exciting) time in the Marketing Department!

This week I've been out of the office for a couple of days helping with the photo shoot for our annual campaign. It's something that I'd never done previously so it was great to meet the photographers, get an idea of how it all works and, most importantly, meet some of the students and graduates that were taking part in the campaign. As cliche as it may sound it was a really great experience for me to meet our students, past and current, and hear their thoughts and find out about some of the amazing things they've been getting up too! I also managed to get a sneak peek at some of the shots we'd taken and they looked great (even if I do say so myself!) so make sure you keep an eye out for them later on in the year!

Graduations have been taking place this week so there's been a lot of smartly dressed students and their families around campus the last few days! On Friday I'll be filming one of the graduations at St. Mary's so I'll have another chance to talk to some of our students and find out about their plans now they've graduated.

We're also sending the final proof of our PG prospectus to the designers this week. I couldn't tell you how many times I've read it but it's really great to see it all come together! I can't believe it's nearly over but there's already talk of the UG 2017 prospectus so I'm sure that'll keep me going!

You may have seen that our Clearing campaign has already started (if you haven't check out our micro-site) so I've been working on a few bits here and there to help Krystle. It's been really good for me as I'm getting to see all the different sections of the annual cycle!

I also helped out with the UCAS convention (I can't believe that was a whole month ago!) at the Bedford campus. This was a really fun day for me as I got to go over to Bedford and see the new Gateway building and speak to members of staff that I wouldn't normally come into contact with regularly. There was a really great atmosphere at the convention and it was nice to meet some potential students. It did however bring back a few memories of when I attended a UCAS convention which made me feel quite old!

I've also been keeping busy outside of work too (I told you there was no rest for the wicked), and a couple of weeks ago I took park in the 10k Race for Life in Stevenage. I only walked it but, as I'm not the fittest of people, it was a big achievement for me! I love doing the Race for Life as there's always a fantastic atmosphere in the air! One of the local radio stations was there to support the event and after crossing the finishing line we asked if they could play Taylor's shake it off so we could celebrate in style (no pun intended...it really did just happen)!

Like a student before the approaching deadline

Time flies!.. I have just over two weeks until my contract with the MARC team ends. And as always, there are so many things I want to finish before I leave. I feel like a student before an approaching deadline, but I don't want to leave everything for the last minute!

With clearing coming up, I want to make sure that there is all relevant content on the course pages to help prospective students make the right decision. That involves filming and editing more interviews, adding accreditation logos and NSS stats, quotes, blogs, photo galleries and articles.

There are a number of other web updates for the Business School, and Health and Social Sciences faculties that I need to do. We are creating a new page clearly outlining the capacity of the simulation centre at Butterfield Park. I am also going to film some interviews there - can't wait to see the facility!

Speaking of interviews, I have started a project called Knowledge Sharing where students speak about the topic of their choice - something they have learned or researched as part of their study. So far we have an MBA student talking about the use of Big Data, and a nursing student talking about recovery in mental health. There will be more, so keep an eye on our Youtube channel!

We are also preparing a corporate video for the Business School, to show how we work and what we have achieved so far. The storyboard is there and now I am looking through all the footage and photos to pick the relevant ones for the final production.

And great news on the publication side - new edition of BedsBiz is almost ready! We're on final stages of proofreading and approval. There will be some great insights on various subjects in this issue.

So, it will be intensive couple of weeks for me, but coming back from the dance camp in Czech Republic, I am ready to dive back to work before I set off for more traveling, dance, teaching and performance!

The Way It Is

One of the great things about working with children is that they ask the best (but often hard to answer) questions. I was on a hike with the Brownies and one of them asked ‘where do you go to school?’ I sheepishly replied that I had, in fact, finished school, and university, and now have a job. The obvious next question was ‘what’s your job?’ The conversation then went along these lines:

Me:                  I work in marketing.

Brownie 1:      What’s marketing?

Me:                 It’s… erm… when you try to get someone to think about something in a certain way, to get them to buy it.

[Google says “the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.” But try explaining that to a bunch of 7 year olds!]

Brownie 2:     You can’t make me think anything!

The little group of girls around me all said that they couldn’t be marketed at, as they held water bottles with One Direction plastered on them and flashed with every step in trainers that can only be described as not the most sensible option but, quite literally, the flashiest.

But it did get me thinking.

Get out of my head! Or don't, I actually like your stuff.

My Internet browser is now bombarding me with banners trying to get me to apply to Staffordshire University (don’t worry - I haven’t). I have not one, but three lip balms dotted about my desk and person at all times because they all claim to be the best. But the place I have noticed it most is on Spotify (incidentally also where Staffordshire University are vying for my attention through their radio station). I have the premium account on my phone, but as I had the free version on my laptop for so long, I couldn’t be bothered with making all my playlists again when I got a new account, so…ads.

I don’t listen to the radio, and I skip ads on TV, so why am I suddenly completely obsessed with James Bay? I thought when I saw the music video at a friend’s house that I’d just discovered this great artist. Then I realised I knew the words. How was that possible if this was the first time I was hearing it? Then a few days later I realised, when I didn’t completely zone out when listening to the ads. Spotify have been plugging his album and I've been sucked in by subconsciously listening to snippets of it in between Drowners and classic 80s numbers like The Way It Is (The Bruce Hornsby song, not to be confused with another classic of the same name by The Strokes - an all time favourite that they didn’t play when I saw them at BST a few weeks ago, why Julian, why?). They have been doing this for months and I - a marketing assistant - hadn’t even noticed. Maybe I’m not that different from the Brownies.

It's not our fault that we buy into things.

I guess that brings me conveniently to the end of this post. Marketing works - that’s just the way it is. It’s a great career to work in and I’ve had a lot of fun over the last few weeks making more videos and spending a lot of time editing the webpages, getting them ready for clearing. The university market is competitive and marketing is a vital part of the process. It just may take a bit of time for the Brownies to figure it out and for me to get Hold Back the River out of my head.