PortalPress Summer Special
Issue 5 • 22 August 2014
Welcome Welcome to the sixth special summer issue of Portal Press. With the GCSE Levels results falling on Thursday August 21, this has been a busy week, with significant activity, including press, direct marketing, unpaid PR coverage, a presence in key city centre shopping centres, outdoor media and more. Results were very strong, with Hull and Goole Colleges achieving a 100 per cent pass rate, and Harrogate 98 per cent. Significant marketing work has been ongoing across the three Colleges throughout the summer, with a particular focus on the theme ‘Your Career Starts Here’, promoting opportunities to study FE and HE provision. This week, due to A Levels results, there has been a strong focus on HE provision and our Clearing hotline. A large amount of advertising has already been placed, with more still to come for the coming weeks. Across the course of the campaign a wide variety of formats are being utilised, including: • print • radio •online • social media campaigns • freebies and competition giveaways • events, including Street Sesh in Hull • direct marketing, in the form of mailers, text messages, postcards and letters • outdoor media, including poster sites at local train stations and bus advertising The campaign is also utilising a series of high-tech digital marketing techniques. This provides a number of benefits, including: • Google Search Advertising – College adverts will appear on Google when anybody searches for relevant college courses and search terms • Google Display and Remarketing – Google display adverts targeting individuals according to location and remarketing • Facebook Advertising – Targeted adverts (by age, location and remarketing) at potential students and current applicants. It is possible to match applicants email addresses to Facebook profiles and directly send messages via the social media
• Amplified Content – Running content into the target newsfeed and mobile devices (age, location and remarketing) These digital tools will involve separate campaigns for FE and HE, aimed at conversion to application or enrolment depending on the stage an individual is currently at in the application process.
There are a number of key objectives, which the campaign will aim to achieve. These – informed by admissions statistics – are: • Promote enrolment conversion (FE and HE) • Promote additional applicants (NEETS & “Withdrawn” learners) • Maximise opportunities during Clearing • Maximise apprenticeship applications – opportunity to ‘transfer’ those individuals unable to secure an employer placement on to other provision e.g. traineeships • Smaller campaign to adults (24+ Loans) and part-time promotion
The key messages are: • Position Hull College Group as the first choice for courses that lead to job outcomes – ‘Your Career Starts Here’ • Separate visual/approach for Higher Education at key times during the recruitment cycle • Highlight main student benefits – including FREE transport (simple message) and meals • Guaranteed progression • City centre campus • Free WiFi.
Please see below copies and examples of press advertising featured in the weeks beginning August 11. A matrix, detailing all planned activity, has also been included. This provides an at-a-glance overview of the campaign.
Click here to view the matrix.
As with A Levels last week, a significant amount of additional activity and promotion has taken place around this week’s GCSE results, including: • Direct mailers • A Hull College-branded icecream van which visited key areas and provided free icecreams on GCSE results day itself • Pop-up advice desks in shopping centres in Hull, Harrogate and Goole • Ad walkers around city centres (literally representatives based on the streets with large-size posters) • Media bikes (bicycles branded with key messages • Ad walkers around Hull city centre (literally representatives based on the streets with large-size posters) • Media bikes (bicycles branded with key messages) • Pop-up information stands in Prince’s Quay and St Stephen’s shopping centres • Approx. 30-minute slot on BBC Radio Humberside’s Breakfast show. Studio guest Hull College Principal Graham Towse, speaking about improved employability opportunities as a result of FE • Appearance by Harrogate College Principal Debra ForsytheConroy on Harrogate’s Stray FM radio station • Inclusion in Hull Daily Mail GCSE news feature • News story on Hull Bondholder’s website • Appearance by GCSE student Philip Caygill on BBC Radio Humberside to talk about benefits of returning to College as an adult • Inclusion within Harrogate Advertiser’s feature on GCSE results.
Go Higher Study a Degree at Hull College Limited places available on a range of courses
your career
starts here - only limited places remain, apply today to secure your place
free T SPOR TRAN EALS* &M
It’s not too late to apply for this September We offer you: Outstanding education and training for real jobs Preparation for work Courses for 14-16 year olds Progression into Further Education, Apprenticeships and Higher Education FREE WiFi and subsidised parking
Clearing hotline
NOW OPEN
90
New routes to higher skills
%
of our students progress to further study or employment
including HNCs/HNDs, Foundation Degrees, BSc (Hons), BA (Hons) and Masters Degrees
Clearing hotline:
For info on our full range of courses call 01482 598744 • www.hull-college.ac.uk *Check your eligibility
Hull Daily Mail stairstep, August 21
01482 598852 www.hull-college.ac.uk/HE
Hull Daily Mail half page, August 19
Advertisement Feature
Clearing 2014
limited places available Wayne Willis did his Degree in Music with the College, before founding his own Hull-based advertising agency, YesYes, which has worked with clients including MTV and Unicef. He says: “Without the College I wouldn’t be doing what I am. I still have a great relationship with staff there now – the College creates partnerships with local businesses and that’s what needs to happen. This is a really exciting time to be in Hull. It used to be that you had to be in London to work with clients, but it’s changing and they’re starting to come to us. Hull is a great place to study and work”.
Whether you picked up the A Level results you were hoping for last week or fell short of your expectations you may still be considering the options available in Clearing. Don’t panic, there’s still time to secure a place to study a degree or other higher level qualification this September and our Clearing Team are available now to provide advice and guidance through the Clearing process. Hull College offers an increasing range of high quality higher education programmes studied on a full and part-time basis, including HNCs, HNDs, Foundation Degrees, BA (Hons) and Masters programmes and our tuition fees are competitively priced compared to many other institutions. Courses with places still available through Clearing include: BA (Hons) Architecture, BA (Hons) Animation, BA (Hons) Broadcast Media, BA (Hons) Fashion, BA
(Hons) Fine Art, BA (Hons) Games Design, BA (Hons) Web Design and BA (Hons) Photography. The College also has limited places still available on BSc (Hons) Computing, BA (Hons) Business & Management, FdA Criminology and HND General Engineering as well as other subject areas within the Faculty of Business and Science.
Wendy Waldron studied BA (Hons) Counselling Practice and now works as a counsellor. She says: “The College is a fantastic local resource; everyone is so welcoming and friendly and the tutors were so supportive, I can honestly say that coming to Hull College is one of the best things I have ever done. It gave me the opportunity to start a new career – I am now doing something I love and have to pinch myself every
morning”. Gary Allen earned a BSc (Hons) Construction Management and is now a site manager for construction company Hobson and Porter, handling multi-million pound projects. He says: “I spent a total of 10 years studying at Hull College, from my bricklaying apprenticeship through to achieving my degree. The fact I have the career I do is largely down to Hull College – it got me my first job as an Apprentice and gave me a footstep on the employment ladder. I was pushed to stay on and to achieve my career goals – the help I got was vital”. The College’s competitive course fees and bursaries and scholarships provides an affordable higher education route - course fees at most universities are £9,000 per year compared to £6,400 for full-time study at Hull College. Call our Clearing hotline now on: 01482 598852 or email clearing@hull-college.ac.uk. To view all available courses, visit: www.hull-college.ac.uk/he.
If you did not get the grades you expected, worrying about what happens next is normal. But with Hull College you will receive access to specialist facilities for higher education, committed tutors with real experience in their field and a great chance of getting a job when you graduate. At least 90 per cent of students go on to either get a job or begin further study at a higher level within six months of completing their course at the College. Former graduates speak positively about their experiences at Hull College and career progression.
Hull Daily Mail DPS, Aug 20
Clearing hotline now open, speak to a member of our staff for advice and guidance
Hull Daily Mail DPS, Aug 20
Hull Daily Mail website takeover, August 18-20
Hull Daily Mail website takeover, August 18-20
1/2-page ad, Harrogate Advertiser, August 21
½ page ad, Goole Times, August 21
Publications the adverts have featured in are: • the Hull Daily Mail • the Harrogate Advertiser • the Yorkshire Post • the Goole Times • Hull FC programmes • Hull KR programmes • Humber Street Sesh programme
In addition: • Radio advertising on Viking FM (Hull & Goole College) and Harrogate’s Stray FM • Bus advertising • Poster sites in Hull and Harrogate train stations • Events including the Great Yorkshire Show and Cottingham day have been attended • Direct marketing communications have been posted to all 16-18 applicants in Hull, Harrogate and Goole • Poster sites owned by JC Decaux in Hull City centre and a further 18 locations • Advertising trailer outside the HE Centre at Hull’s Queen’s Gardens site.
If you have any questions about the summer campaign or would like further information, please contact the Marketing Department.
your career starts here