Last week we had an exciting opportunity to spend the afternoon at Reigate College with Lower Sixth Business BTEC students, who stepped into the role of marketing professionals.
Five teams were shortlisted to present their ideas in response to a challenge we (Your Marketing Team) set back in March. The challenge invited pupils to respond to a real-life brief supporting The Samaritans East Surrey, one of the College’s charity partners.
“We had a lot of fun designing a brief for the pupils at Reigate College. We settled on a fundraising-focused brief to help drive revenue in support of the essential services we provide, whilst also promoting the ethos and inclusivity of the charity.”
David Hartley – Director Marketing Liaison
The objective for students was to develop a strategic marketing campaign to help drive fundraising revenue, using a variety of digital and traditional media methods.
“We wanted to do something for the local student community that would provide young people with the opportunity to work on a real business brief and learn more about the variety of marketing channels that are often employed in strategic campaigns. The presentation day offered the pupils a unique opportunity to practise their presentation skills to a professional audience, put their learning into practice and receive direct feedback to their ideas.”
Sue Land – Founder and Director – Your Marketing Team
We were blown away by the presentations, the approach to strategic thinking and the level of detail made it an inspiring afternoon.
From creative catchy straplines and in-depth evaluation using applied Marketing theory to segment target audiences to imaginative routes that could reach a wide demographic there were some great ideas and it was exceptionally difficult to choose a winner.
Every team brought something different, but all approached the task with a strong commercial mindset and a clear response to the brief, a testament to the teaching at Reigate College and the young people applying themselves to the challenge.
After much deliberation, with David Hartley and Shirley Soer from The Samaritans East Surrey we chose a winning team, made of three students, Finn, Habeeb and Soore.
This team had pulled together a professional presentation, it looked slick, but more to the point, it was crisp, the upfront section framing the strategy that shaped their campaign.
A concise analysis of target audiences and routes to engagement with an easy to digest rationale for each made this a very neat plan, underpinned by a stand-out campaign slogan that captured the essence of what The Samaritans does.
“We were impressed with how the students were able to build campaigns that satisfied all our criteria in both creative and, often, ingenious ways.”
David Hartley – Director Marketing Liaison
A brilliant example of the right amount of content, the right level of thinking alongside cost effective routes for raising awareness.
“We loved the clarity of thought and how effectively it was brought together. The campaign was so well structured that it could be picked up and implemented immediately, without the need for further clarification.”
Laura Taylor – PR Consultant – Your Marketing Team
“Our business students valued the opportunity of presenting their ideas to experts from the Marketing industry. They worked on their presentations independently, whilst revising for their final marketing exams in May. They all took the experience very seriously and enjoyed receiving important feedback to help them in their business studies.”
Michelle Theophilus – Head of Vocational Business (BTEC) – Reigate College