Blog posts have taken a bit of a back seat recently. That's partly due to some big things afoot - planning for clearing, a new CRM and a new team member (more on all of those soon). Also, I've become a Dad for the third time which is both amazing and massively tiring. This means I'm taking advantage of the University's very generous paternity leave policy at the moment but felt that I couldn't wait to share the following news...

Looking back over the past year it seems a lot of what we do is attend award ceremonies. These are generally great fun and show that the work we're putting in is up there with the best. The really big marketing awards in higher education though are the Heist Awards which this year are to be held in Manchester. I was fortunate enough to win a silver one in my previous role for 'best internal communications campaign' which was an amazing experience and got me hungry for more. Well, that time has come!

We found out last Thursday that we had been shortlisted for 'best digital / social media campaign' (again for our work during clearing) and also for 'best university website'! Getting something for either of these in my first year in the role would be truly brilliant, as we're up against some very stiff opposition and these are massive accolades. It would also be the collateral we need to cement our reputation amongst both our peers and with our internal stakeholders.

We're also very excited for the traditional marketing team who have been shortlisted for 'best postgraduate prospectus' and the library who are again featured in the 'best internal communications campaign' category. There's no doubt that there will be a great atmosphere on 11th July when the awards are announced.

I'm now off to stockpile some more sleep. Being a Dad is almost definitely as tiring as being a Digital Marketing Manager!

It's been a little while since our last post on here and this is partly due to the Easter holidays. However, the main reason is that the team has been extremely busy working on the first ever University of Bedfordshire cinema advert!

The success of our new corporate film coupled with the fact that our Vice Chancellor was extremely keen to get us advertising in cinemas built to this project - which became a real team affair. We had four weeks from conception to deliver a finished 30 second cinema advert complete with online campaign. Ready, set, GO!


Overall, I'll say that we're very pleased with the finished result and below is the rough process of getting an advert like this made:

Firstly we needed to select a production company. We had a number in to pitch their ideas to us and the VC and were very pleased to award Spectrecom (who we worked with during the corporate film) the contract. Their original pitch focussed on a student in an interview situation. However, we felt that we wanted to depict someone already in work and excelling due to them coming to Bedfordshire. This all took shape really well and was meticulously storyboarded. We then began our search for locations, extras, and of course, a STAR!

The decision was made that we first wanted to give our current students a chance to audition as it would add authenticity and be a great addition to their CV. We sent out the call to our Performing before the Camera and Theatre and Professional Practice students and shortlisted the best applicants for a day of auditions. The standard was extremely high and students from both Bedford and Luton applied. However, one girl stood out with a breathtaking reading of a monologue from the film Annie Hall. We were therefore very happy to give the role to 3rd Year Theatre and Professional Practice student Stephanie Pearson for the four day shoot.

Once we had organised a strict schedule for filming (comprising four of our campuses, a live graduation scene and a large number of extras) we were ready to start shooting. The planning was definitely the toughest bit so as not to disrupt any lectures but also to effectively showcase our fantastic facilities. It all paid off though, as the shoot went extremely smoothly with plenty of time to refine each shot and make the most of what we had at our disposal. Take a look at the gallery of production photos below for an idea of how the advert was crafted:



Whilst all this was happening we were also finalising the cinema bookings, clearing the music licence and liasing with the BBFC in order to get the film rated. This also proved a very smooth process and the edit was locked after just two days of refinements leaving plenty of time to negotiate with record companies and get the advert rated as 'U' - Suitable for all!

That's me! Abusing my privileges
(as usual) in a cameo as a lecturer

This whole process has been extremely enjoyable (but VERY tiring) and is a real eye opener as to the amount of work that goes into creating something of high enough quality to be shown in the cinema. What we were particularly pleased with is the way the project took shape as a true collaboration and it was almost like we were all one team. Stephanie, as the lead actress, could not have been more professional and we're sure she has a bright future ahead of her. She even said that this experience has shown her what she wants to do when leaving the University of Bedfordshire!

If you want to watch the advert in the cinema for yourself then take a look at the schedule of where and when it will be running and if you are fortunate enough to see it then Tweet us using #bedscinema. Also, if you like the music, we've been granted the licence to use it by our old friends Various Cruelties again!

The final part of this project is to monitor it's effectiveness, which is where the online campaign comes in... that's a blog post for another day though...

I have a very similar chandelier at home

It wouldn't be the first few months of the year without another awards ceremony to go to and last Thursday's was the CIM Marketing Excellence Awards. This one was particularly prestigious, with the absolute cream of the marketing world heading up to the Grosvenor on London's Park Lane for a truly glittering (and expensive!) ceremony. Again, we were up for our Digital Clearing Campaign 2012 but this time in the Education category.

Beverley (Deputy Director of Marketing), Hannah and myself all rendezvoused at Kings Cross before jumping in a taxi with plenty of time to spare. However, due to some horrific traffic around Marble Arch we were forced to watch the pre-arrival drinks via Twitter! Thankfully, we arrived just in time to take our seats for the meal and who should be standing next to our table but the evening's host... Hugh Dennis!

After polishing off the five course meal and someone else's wine (that's another story!) the ceremony began. This was extremely well produced, as you'd expect from a venue of this type and with over eighty tables of guests we knew our chance of treading the boards on stage was pretty slim. We were just happy to be picked as finalists and were only one of three universities at the event.

Scrabbling for the best wigs and hats between
photos became quite competitive...!

Our category was up third and we were also excited to see Hannah's nominees video she produced up there on the big screen. Unforunately, on this occassion we were not winners (breaking our two year silver category streak) and lost out to Kirklees College for their 'Get Real Results' campaign. This was outstanding work by them in sponsoring Huddersfield town football club and building a campaign around it.

Despite not getting a result on the night we really enjoyed ourselves (check out the pictures to the right!) and came away feeling that the work we're doing is definitely being recognised at a higher level than ever before. Maybe we'll be back next year and these aren't the last of the awards we've entered for 2013 either...

So you may remember that in a recent post Paul more or less coerced (!) me into this particular contribution to our blog, and that in a less recent post I mentioned that I had been working pretty hard on selecting a film company to work with, organising shoots and generally trying to coordinate around 40 hours of filming!

Well, after five months, some dreaded spreadsheeting, a few sleepness nights and lots of driving between campuses (plus a lot of fun!) the new University of Bedfordshire film is here!

In the spirit of letting the video do the talking, I should probably leave it here - but I won't, basically because we're really proud of it and (as you can probably tell from our blog) we like to talk about our work!

The newly open PG Centre

On a practical level, the arrival of our new Vice Chancellor, Bill Rammell, in September, necessitated an update to the official film, and the insights Youtube analytics now provides gave us a great business case to make what were some crucial changes, initially in terms of our creative brief and then ultimately in terms of the final product.

The University has come a really long way in the last five years, with application figures increasing dramatically over that period, and a huge capital investment in our facilities (like the PG Centre, left) - which was another factor that pushed me to go to Paul last autumn and ask for some budget for a new film. We have a lot to show off, and I felt like we owed it to the students that have already chosen us to represent their university in a bolder, more confident - dare I say prouder? - way. There is a lot of highly-politicised media criticism of modern universities, but I would challenge anyone who questions the value of the kind of practical, hands-on, industry-relevant education you can see our students experiencing in the video.

At this point I need to give a huge shout out to Spectrecom, who have been the best production company I've worked with, hands-down. From the camera crew and directors, to the creative and production team and the editors, they have been a pleasure to work with from start to...well, no project with Bedfordshire is ever quite finished (more on phase two of our collaboration with Spectrecom from Paul soon!) In all seriousness, they have been brilliant.

So what have I been filling my time with now the excitement of the film is over? Well, as Paul will testify, I have a new found obsession with tracking and analysis and am trialling some pretty exciting stuff in terms of tracking the success and ROI of the video. We're planning a staggered release of the film via our website and social channels over the next few weeks, so once the stats start coming in, I'll give Paul a break from the blog and pitch in with an update on all that.

p.s If you like the music, check out more from Various Cruelties!

Due to an internal promotion (very well done Hannah!) We are currently advertising for a Digital Marketing Assistant to join our busy team in central marketing.

This is a brilliant opportunity for anyone who is relatively new to working in digital marketing to learn lots of new skills and get stuck into a wide variety of increasingly exciting projects (more on those in a future post!) So, if you're interested in joining us, then we'd love to hear from you (details below):

Digital Marketing Assistant

• Marketing, Admissions, Recruitment and Communications (MARC)
• Grade 5, £20,764 per annum
• 37 hours per week
• One year fixed term contract

We are looking for a Digital Marketing Assistant, with a passion for producing content optimised for the users experience and for the effective marketing of the University of Bedfordshire’s online presence. They should be experienced in using social media channels, CMS, Photoshop and HTML email software, and preferably have a strong understanding of other web technologies.

The successful candidate will be self-motivated and be able to prioritise work and meet deadlines. This post is based at the Luton campus and the post holder will occasionally be required to visit the other university campuses.

• Closing date: 19th March 2013
• Interview date: W/B 8th April 2013

As before, if you're interested in joining our award winning team then it would be great to hear from you. To apply and for more details just following the links above through to our website.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact me on 01582 743987 or email: paul.fryer@beds.ac.uk

Choose your tab!

Those of you who have visited our website will have noticed that there is quite a big emphasis on search. Not only do we have the normal site search but also a filterable course finder which allows users to really zone in on what they are looking for.

Our search is run by Funnelback, a really powerful tool which allows us control over pretty much any aspect we want. Therefore, we felt it was time to use this to the maximum completely revamp our main search. Previously it returned results in a logical order, prioritised courses and also suggested any related search results. However, we've now taken it to the next level!

After some pretty lengthy development work we have now introduced a filterable search option whereby all results are cartegorised in different tabs with the amount of results displayed. The user can then hone in on exactly the type of results they were looking for (e.g. courses). This should mean no more of that scrolling through reams of text to find the specific query you want. That's it for the content of our site but we've also gone one step further...

Searching our YouTube video collection
definitely highlights the importance of
correctly tagging up our content

If you run a search now, you'll also notice that one of the tabs relates to video and this is the really exciting part... We host all of our video content on our YouTube channel and now these can also be searched directly from our site! As we are constantly updating with new videos this is a great way of feeding our rich media content into the site, and the presentation is such that it looks seamless. it also gives all of the vital information (thumbnail, duration, description and date added) so you're not just left with a title and a URL.

We're really happy with the work the team at Funnelback have done to get this up and running (thanks Sonia and Daniel) and the icing on the cake is how brilliantly it also works as part of our responsive design.

This project has definitely got us thinking about the other rich media solutions we can plug into our site search... Instagram anyone?!

Awards season begins! After a busy week finally locking the edit of our new corporate film, Hannah and I headed up to Bristol for the CIPR Local Public Services Awards. Joining us were Sarah, Lauren and Caroline representing the Postgraduate Marketing team. We were short listed in the 'Digital Excellence' category whilst they were hoping to bag the 'PR on a shoestring' trophy.

We set off from Luton at lunchtime for our trek out west, making sure that we stuck to the timings dictated by our pre-booked train tickets. It soon became apparent that wheelie suitcases were not a good idea through London (handle down, steps, handle up, steps...) but we arrived in good time nonetheless and headed to our rooms to get ready. The walk to the venue was only about 200 yards and I was very glad to be wearing comfortable shoes (unlike the girls) as again, the steps (and cobbled streets) were their worst enemy!

The venue was the absolutely brilliant 'At-Bristol'. A Science Museum definitely worth checking out, and we particularly enjoyed the interactive exhibits. My personal fave was one which measured the height of your jump from standing and played it back in slow motion. For some reason no-one else wanted a go...?!

We then headed upstairs for a lovely three course meal, some great conversation and, of course, plenty of wine. At around 9.30pm it was time for the awards to begin with our categories up fourth and sixth...

There were around six short listed entries for each category, with the runners up getting 'Highly Commended' and an overall winner. Our category came around before we knew it and being the only university there we felt the pressure on us immediately. Our entry had focussed on all of the work which we had done during Clearing in 2012 to help recruit to target, which was no mean feat in the current climate. After reading out all six nominees then came the announcement: "The University of Bedfordshire: Highly Commended!" - which to me is the same as silver... ;) Both Hannah and I were really pleased as between us this is the third silver award we've won in as many years (and still leaves us hungry to get that elusive gold award...)

Of our campaign they said:
"The university needed to recruit students and online is cost effective. The strategy was heavily focussed on search and social channels. The light-footedness of this campaign made it stand out. Day by day evaluation of metrics enabling modification was a clear indication of the benefits of new media. Clear and measurable objectives were set, assessed and achieved. The campaign added real value to student experiences as well as meeting the university’s objectives".

The big success story of the night though was our very own Postgraduate Marketing Team, who swept the board to beat their four competitors and WIN for 'PR on a shoestring!' A truly amazing effort ladies! This was totally deserved and was for their Postgraduate Life E-Zine of which the judges said: 'the objectives were strong and the evaluation showed they were more than met'.

(Left to right) Caroline Jacobi, Sarah Hampton, Paul Fryer,
Hannah Park, Lauren Hague

So there you have it, all in all a great night and we all came away from Bristol with something to show for it - two certificates and a trophy for the University of Bedfordshire! It's really great for all five of us to be formally recognised for the work we do and just getting short listed was an achievement. We were also happy that the three hour train journey was worth it, as it was a bit more heavy going on the way home :-& Now bring on the CIM Awards at the Grosvenor on 6th March...