This year Red Brick Research are the proud sponsors of the Marketing Magician Young Leaders Award. The University Business awards recognise and reward the exceptional young people working in UK higher education. We spoke to the three short-listed candidates and asked for their reaction to being short-listed and for their views on innovative HE marketing.
Janine Heath – @JanineHeathPR
“I am delighted to have been nominated for an award that recognises both leadership potential and my proficiency in my role at Harper Adams. I aim to achieve results purely to protect and enhance the reputation of Harper Adams and to help keep the university in a strong position for potential future growth. But all the same, I am pleased to have been nominated and to have my achievements recognised both at Harper Adams and beyond.”
What is the most innovative bit of marketing you have come across in the Higher Education sector?
“Although I am struggling to identify the most innovative example of marketing in HE, I must say that I am always impressed when an institution takes social media seriously, using it creatively and strategically to capture prospective students through to alumni. It’s widely known that social media is beyond a passing phase, it is here to stay. It’s down to how us as marketing and PR professionals harness that power and use it to our advantage. Be creative, but always with the institution’s strategic objectives in mind.”
Amy Cory – @Amy_Cory
“I am delighted to have been shortlisted in the Marketing Magician category of the Young Leaders Awards. It is really exciting to have been recognised for my work in this way. As the Multimedia News Officer, I am lucky that I get to work with some of the University of Leicester’s leading academics to promote their research to the media and the general public in fun and engaging ways, but I wouldn’t be able to do that without working with such great colleagues in the University’s News Centre, Creative Team and Marketing.”
What is the most innovative bit of marketing you have come across in the Higher Education sector?
“The most innovative bit of marketing I’ve seen in HE was the University of Birmingham’s 2014 video campaign for students who accepted a place at the University on A-Level results day – they sent them all a personalised video in the form of a news report announcing that the student had been awarded a place at the University – a fantastic way to build up a personal relationship with every student from day 1 and make them feel welcome and part of the community.”
LauraCoulthard – @LauraJCoulthard
“I am honoured to have been nominated for a young leader award and am even more delighted to be in the final three for the marketing magician category. I am very much looking forward to the event in November and meeting other professionals from across the sector.”
What is the most innovative bit of marketing you have come across in the Higher Education sector?
“The university of California did a student led video campaign of parents etc filming students as they opened acceptance letters which I thought was a great use of social media and film on a relatively low budget (because the production was led by the students). As a film graduate video projects are always close to my heart and the final piece was very heart warming and was fantastic for creating a buzz for potential future students.”
The shortlists for the other awards can be found here