Who Are We?
We are two undergraduates from Lincoln University. Rebecca is a third year student studying a degree in BA( Hons) Journalism, Charlie is a third year student studying a degree in BA( Hons) Advertising & Marketing. Since studying together we have formed a strong professional relationship on collaborative projects ranging from marketing material for large multinational companies to our local student magazine. Both coming from highly differentiated academic backgrounds we still managed to find our common ground, a zealous passion for creativity in our fields, which acts as a key driver for our collaborative projects. Within this portfolio we aim to showcase our talents in both copy writing and art direction, illustrated across several projects. We hope you will find our work of interest and we look forward to hearing your responses.
Projects
Project A: Saudi Aramco Oils The Project: To develop a theme and create material for a leadership event being held at Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia. The event was for the leadership centre based on the gulf coast oil refinery, Ras Tanura. These team members come from across the world and are responsible for instilling the strategic management and leadership development that is taught throughout the world‟s largest oil company. The thesis was to help coordinate a theme for the keynote speaker as to how branding and social media help and effect leadership. From here, Rebecca established the title „lifting the lid on leadership- inside the brand of an organisation. ‟ The company‟s main prerogative was to create a front cover on a pamphlet for the event that would entice people to attend. By using words such as „lifting‟ and „inside‟ Rebecca felt it would increase curiosity as to what would be revealed if they did attend. The leadership centre is a fairly new organisation within the company. The concept for the event was to summarise new beginnings and to celebrate its success. Therefore, an idea of collecting famous quotes came to mind. Those in the business of leadership often have quotes of other leaders that they live by or have as role models. As the company also wanted the event to focus on being reflective of the work they had done so far and also the future of what is yet to be achieved by them, We thought it would be interesting to get quotes from the leaders about how they felt when they started, what they think in the present and what they hope for the future. These quotes were turned into large banners that hung across the tent being used for the event. Rebecca also asked each leader for their personal and favourite quotes. These were then placed on table placemats for each person to keep as a memoir. Through feedback from Charlie back in the UK, we put our thoughts together and came up with a design concept. Charlie arranged the front cover with Rebecca‟s words over the top. Charlie suggested the semiotic message of the colours was really important as to how the event comes across, so suggest the use of blue, yellows and grays; all bold and strong colours to define the idea of starting something new, without an in balance of feminism or masculinity. Statistically the most feminine colour is actually yellow, not pink based on colour theory research. The back cover of quotes should be the same colours used on the front. , for a theme of consistency and clarification of the internal message. For the back of the invitation pamphlet, the quotes from the leaders were put together in a variety of styles, as a taste of what would come at the event. Rebecca then wrote a script for the leadership director, including how to manoeuvre effectively around the room etc. She then also gave input to the keynote speaker, through her own knowledge and thoughts gave him
ideas on his topic, as to how social media could help their leadership strategies and how the use of television media and outlets such as twitter and Facebook could help establish their inner brand for the rest of the company. The event was held on the 19th January 2011 and my work was used down to each detail. This was particularly exciting as members akin to the royal Arabian family were in attendance. Below is a direct quote from the organization, addressed to Rebecca:
Project A: Saudi Aramco Oils- Designs
Project B: Bullet Magazine Who we are: Official University of Lincoln Student‟s Union Publication What we do: Cover local and national events relating to a student and local audience. When: We are printed monthly and update daily on Facebook, Twitter and our website Why: To keep our students up to date on what is going on across University as well as around our local community.
Each year a new editorial team is given the opportunity to work at Bullet. We took on the roles as editor in chief ( Rebecca) and Online Editor ( Charlie) in order to turn the publication around and create something new. Since we took over and created our first edition and web uploading in August; statistics for the magazine have gone from a few hundred cumulatively, to thousands.
Another thing lagging previous to our editorial takeover was the use of Facebook and twitter. We felt these were of as much value as our online presence, in particular dealing with students. We had regular meetings as to how we could best create awareness of our social pages. We decided to upload content not only to the website, but also to Facebook at the same time. Making use of status updates, we have encouraged people to interact with our content and create debate with news and features. This creates communication between us and our audience in order to establish what they like and don‟t like or what they would like to see. This has proven to be successful and again, our audience participation has increased. Our website and tweets are followed by our local newspaper, the Lincolnshire echo and also student beans, one of the largest student websites in the UK, which shows that we are targeting correctly, and our success is been recognised by other figures in the market. In order to further advance ourselves and push further than print, this year we conceptualised an idea to create „Bullet TV. ‟ Bullet TV brings to life the content of the magazine with a team of over 25 people. This has been integrated within the website in order to create a multi- platform and more interactive internet presence. One of our largest online campaigns was reporting on the recent student protests in London, Bullet media reported live through TV reporting, as well as reporting on the spot feedback to our team back in Lincoln, who Facebook updated and uploaded content onto the website continuously throughout the day for live updates. We are currently working on this concept again for our upcoming Student Union election announcements in which we aim to stream live.
Understanding that we need to further create a technological stance with Bullet we also came up with the idea of an Iphone/ pad app. A staff member of the Student Union put this together. This has made access to our website easier and quicker for Smartphone users- the majority of students at our University. Through research this was found to be extremely successful within our target audience. Our links to our pages are below: Bullet Online: http: / / www. bulletonline. org/ Twitter: http: / / twitter. com/ #! / BulletMagazine
Below are examples of our social media and online presence, supported by statistical figures:
Projects ‌In Progress
Project C: University Campus Elections
We are currently working on the election campaigns for the new Student Union officers. Here, Charlie is creating posters and campaign advertisements for the elections and one of the candidates. Rebecca is currently helping to script and also interview the candidates. This is an ongoing process throughout March. We have worked together on an integrated strategy to make sure all visual and written communication is complementary to each other. We shall be working on updating, commenting on and marketing the elections as one of our tasks for Bullet Media. This will include on- going advertising, creating an online social media presence for quicker information on the campaigns, including live updates on the night of election announcements. We also came up with the idea of creating a barcode on the posters, in which Smartphoneâ€&#x;s can scan across and instantly gain access to the candidateâ€&#x;s social media pages and website. Below are preliminary designs for the posters, and promo leaflets:
Project D: Personal Team Projects “Spread” Alongside our work and degrees, we have also started to conceptualize our own blog website. Although in initial starting process, here we aim to play to our strengths and have founded a space for personal writing and creative work in order to further our skills. Rebecca will be responsible for journalistic content and Charlie for the colloquial writing and branding and marketing material. As we both live and breathe our interests in writing and design, this is an ideal productive outlet for us to work on not only building our personal strengths, but also solidifying our work as a team. We believe this will also be productive and fulfilling tasks for post- graduation and long term gain. Below are some images for our initial barding strategy:
We chose the name “Spread” for our magazine, to play on colloquial terminology used within our target market ( 18- 25‟sStudents) . Such as spread the gossip etc. We metaphorically symbolised this with a toast been spread with butter, also an iconic image of stereotypical student diet, subliminally reinforcing core trends and values of the target group. The sub section headers shown also are seen to be consistent with this brand image and theme. The main aim of the magazine would be to take a satirical but honest look at student life through the eyes of two people who‟ve experienced it all before. Two graduates, us.
Project E: The AAC ( Alternative Art College)
We were approached by a fellow student at the University of Lincoln, Paul Stewart, a Fine Art Student in late March 2011 to help him with brand development and marketing for his new project The Alternative Art College ( AAC) . The AAC was a concept set up by Paul to, in his own words: “Create a non- profit education facility; to show that you don’t need to pay large sums of money to gain an understanding of a topic. Let’s show that
Knowledge is priceless and what can be achieved and sustained on a shoe – string budget compared to the over – priced education facilities. ” Our role in the setting up of the AAC is to create a brand concept for Paul and help establish an online presence via Issuu Publishing, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn through this we aim to minimise costs during the establishment process by avoiding heavy print costs. The infancy of our involvement in this project, namely 2 days ( as of 16/ 3/ 2011) means our evidence of work is minimal at this moment in time, however shown below is our preliminary draft for an online magazine cover concept. This project proves to be a promising one if the nail is hit on the head as Paul has already attracted local press interest as well as national government.
The Serious Stuff… Our CV‟s
Rebecca
CURRICULUM VITAE Rebecca Poynton - Murray
54 Charlesworth House, Ruston Way, Lincoln, UK, LN6 7BL Tel: 07837 484851 Email: rebpm@yahoo.com Nationality: British & Canadian (Dual).
___________________________________________________________________ _____ WHY AM I PRESENTING THIS CV FOR YOUR PERUSAL?
I am passionate about media and influencing others positively. I have lived in three countries and travelled extensively. I am a forward thinking and a self – starter who is confident and welcomes challenging opportunities. I am creative, well organised, disciplined and possess excellent interpersonal communication skills. Hard work and Continuous Learning are two of my key values. I submit my personal and professional details to you as a means of providing you with some background knowledge and a thumbnail sketch of my experiences.
EDUCATION B.A. (Hons) in Journalism
(2008 – Present)
Lincoln University
A Levels
(2005 – 2007) King George the Fifth College
A Level Qualifications achieved: English Literature English Language Classical Civilisation GCSE - High School (2000 – 2005) Greenbank High School GCSE Qualifications achieved:
Media, English literature, English language Religious education, Spanish, French Science, Maths, History
Internship 2010 – Present
Lincoln Universities Bullet Magazine and multi-platform media (Print, Radio & TV). Current Editor in Chief
Duties Include:
web address: www.bulletonline.org
In charge of a large team of editors, sub editors, online editors, section editors and contributors Heads up a Television production crew of bullet, organising live interviews, educational packages and entertainment pieces. Responsible for overall direction and content In charge of a large budget and advertising slots Solely Responsible for organisation, communication and board meetings Held numerous power point presentations for the magazine and spoke to students on working within the print industry Headed numerous stands at fayres to promote readership and contribution In charge of a publication with a readership of thousands from students to the local community, branching to national. Constructed business relationships with top brands house of fraser and Toni and Guy for input into my fashion pages Accolades from ‘ones to watch’ a journalism talent search website and offers from Microsoft for column space Turned around a website receiving ratings from the hundreds to hundreds a day and thousands per month. Creatively turned around a publication that was no competition to a competitive first rate student voice. Created six magazines and a daily updated website Attended conferences for student media, including amnesty international and NUS conference in order to create awareness of global issues through Bullet magazine content Attended numerous student fee campaigns including London on behalf of broadcasting the outcomes Have produced breaking news stories that directly concerned my student community, including university expenditure and building closures. Interviewed my own team and is solely responsible for the interview process regarding all team members Responsible for live streaming of student elections for union candidates. This involved following the campaigns of potential candidates, streaming their vetoes and tracking their progress up until voting day.
Apprenticeship Experience
December – January 2011
Saudi Aramco Oil Company Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Duties Included:
Design and Event Management of major management event
Reference
In December 2010, I had the pleasure of getting to know Rebecca Poynton-Murray while she interned within Saudi Aramco’s Leadership Centre in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia. Rebecca was assigned to a planning team tasked with designing and implementing a Corporate division – wide professional symposium. As of 4 team members, Rebecca’s responsibilities included: development of a business event theme, selection of a keynote speaker, marketing strategy including event notification along with the development and printing of all poster materials.
Rebecca displayed strong interpersonal and written communication skills while assigned to the project. This level of professionalism coupled with her creative ability, attention to detail and positive team dynamics contributed to a very successful outcome for the project. In summary, I highly recommend Rebecca for any position or endeavour that she may seek to pursue in the future. Michael R. Larsen, Administrator Leadership Development Division, Saudi Aramco Oil Company
August 2010
Hollyoaks soap opera (Channel Four)
Duties Included:
Worked alongside the design crew. Set up stages and props for scenes on all day shoots Travelled to location and assisted on creating platforms for on the day scenes Helped as a runner for wardrobe
April 2008
Forum for European Journalism (FEJS) Conference
Organiser for the students Duties Included:
Organising hospitality for European citizens Setting up speech sessions with leading companies on Journalistic topics Planning social events throughout Lincoln for the group Raising money for event sponsorship through local companies Currently setting up a women’s magazine for Lincoln University students
January – August 2006
Ormskirk Hospital Radio (UK)
Duties Included:
On-Air DJ
2001 – 2004
88.9 Shine FM (Radio) Calgary, Canada
Duties included:
Member of the commercial promotions team, and On-Air DJ
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
June – August 2010
Bailgate Tea rooms (Lincoln) Supervisor
Duties Included:
Leading a team of waiting and kitchen staff Creating instructions and manuals of good customer service rules to follow and how to do the job to a high standard. Working dedicate hours from 5am onwards Had excellent customer service with customers
April 2008 – June 2008
Caffé Nero Barista
Duties included:
Customer service training Barrister training Till trained Stock checks Stock Promotion
October 2007 – April 2008
LA Fitness (Southport) Front Desk Receptionist
Duties included-
Member relationship management Administration functions such as greeting members, answering calls, handling mail, updating computer database and booking appointments Handling direct debit accounts and membership payments Banking and cash handling Promotion of stock and memberships including creating promotional displays Opening up and closing the gym Working with Legend system Organising the reception area Supervising member events
February 2007 – June 2007
Claire’s Accessories Sales Assistant
Duties included-
Customer Service Banking Key holder Ear Piercing (certified) Cash Handling
Awards/Recognition:
Till Trained Stock Taking 3rd key assistant Planogram refurbishment Worked in Various locations when needed
Winner 4 consecutive weeks of most units sold per customer Most PWP’s (till items) Most money taken in the till on variety of working days
INTERESTS/LEISURE – Member of dance group, Reading, Travelling FAVOURITES
City: New York City Walks: The Lake District (UK) Film: It’s A Wonderful Life Food: Gelato anywhere along the Amalfi Coast or Sicily in Italy Music: The Eagles Book: “If You Want To Walk On Water, You’ve Got To Get Out Of The Boat” by John Ortberg Passion: Developing Leaders
REFERENCES
Available upon request
Charlie
Charlie Philip Marples Mobile: 07530937768/ Email: Charlie_03@hotmail.co.uk DOB: 26/05/1989 Personal Profile
An ambitious Marketing Student, with a strong background in advertising theory and creative skills. Also highly experienced in both Magazine and the Sales sector.
Skills
Advanced presentation based skills. Strong computer skills including the use of Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, Indesign and llustrator packages. Familiar with several database systems.
Recent Achievements
Designed artwork for internal marketing material for Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil firm.
Designing marketing material such as brochures/leaflets for business to business distribution for a local leadership consultancy, Outstand.
Been commissioned as online editor of Lincoln’s local student magazine, Bullet, also writing content for online publication via the medium of colloquial and common interest blogs.
The construction of a full Marketing Plan and Research Plan for Mindful Mama, a local antenatal and hypnotherapy clinic.
Been commissioned by The Linc, Student Newspaper to design a A5 press advertisement for a local Costa Coffee branch
Helping in the design and publication of promotional material for try-outs of The Lincoln Jets Cheerleading Squad (ULJ) during the 2009-2010 seasons.
Worked as an Advertising Editor with Twisted Magazine, launched By Gina Davies in September 2009. Which lead to my transition to The Linc, as the magazine was taken over by the Publication.
Employment
October 2010- Present Online Editor & Contributor- ULSU Bullet Magazine Main Duties
Creating colloquial blogs for online publication Publishing articles via wordpress software for the online magazine hitting 500+ reads per day, and a readership of over 200,000 students and local bodies. Managing and analysing viewing figures and targeting methods Promoting the magazine through social media such as Facebook and Twitter
July 2010- Present Design Assistant- Outstand Leadership Consultancy Main Duties
Conceptualizing and creating creative marketing material for business to business promotion Secondary research into potential users to determine targeting strategies of the material
November 2009 – March 2010- Marketing Assistant- Mindful Mama Antenatal Therapy Main Duties
Creating a marketing plan for new product development and company promotion. Developing a research plan for several focus groups into the affect of antenatal therapy on the quality of birth and the impact on parent child relationships and brand and service perception of antenatal therapy in various contemporary demographic groups. Creating marketing material to advertise for focus group recruitment
October 2009 – Present- Print Advertising Deputy- The Linc Main duties
Working as a deputy to the head of advertising on a magazine and newspaper publication, with a readership of 18,000 on online views alone. Task include creative work developing adverts for companies who wished to advertise but did not inhabit design facilities themselves, this lead to development of an advertisement for Costa Coffee. Recruiting advertisers for future publications and online banner ad’s Creating a Media Pack for recruiting advertisers Delegating workloads to advertising assistants.
Interests
Member of ULJ Lincoln jets cheerleaders a competing co-ed Cheerleading squad, who achieved the title of national champions in 2010. Photo editing and Street art Currently undertaking a personal research project on the social effects on brands with the use of ambient media
Education
Currently studying for BA (Hons) Degree in Advertising & Marketing, Graduating September 2011 A Levels in: Product Design, English Literature and Sociology AS Levels in: Business Studies and General Studies GCSE in 9 subjects, including English Language, Maths and Double Science
Charlie Marples Flat 2a Avondale St. Lincoln LN2 5BL (References available on request.)