Preston’s College
Located at the heart of Britain’s newest city, Preston’s College has a bustling campus with 17,000 students. In 2013 they began a major restructure and repositioning exercise. A new leadership team decided to focus on being an ‘enterprising college,’ with the aim of making every student work ready. This sets it apart from traditional educational establishments. Not only do students leave with qualifications but also with skills in critical areas such as presentations, budgeting and time management.
To launch its new direction, Preston’s College needed a new agency not only to rebrand and reposition it in the hearts and minds of the community, but also to help manage the change through the college, its team and students. Apparatus was selected to manage Preston’s College marketing after a lengthy tender process involving many North West agencies because of our experience in the education sector; our strategic capabilities and our creative pedigree.
What we did
Working with the in house marketing team, Apparatus has been managing all marketing, creative and digital requirements for Preston’s College since January 2013. This has included:
- Rebrand – new name, new logo, new corporate identity, brand guidelines, brand management. Once completed we oversaw PR for the new identity which achieved press coverage to the value of £184,463 and an audience reach of 1,151,000.
- Website – new website for Preston’s College which has increased online interaction by 44%. Introducing the in house team to WordPress has enabled them to quickly take over the new site and also provide access to College departments to ensure that the site is constantly up to date and gaining traffic.
- Prospectus – after a period of market research, this was started from scratch. Not only did we redesign it but we also rewrote content and improved navigation. Follow up research agreed unanimously that it was a significant improvement on previous prospectuses and was more professional and easier to use than the prospectuses of other local colleges. We are now busy creating the 2014 prospectus.
- Advertising – an above the line was developed based on the college’s star students to challenge historic perceptions of the college’s reputation and send message of success into the community. This was underpinned by digital advertising campaigns using Google and Facebook.
- Year 11 campaigns – in addition to producing the prospectus, we are responsible for the lifecycle of the Year 11 communications. We base this on a classic acquisition, conversion, retention strategy ensuring that students are attracted to the college and remain engaged throughout the year. We use a mix of direct marketing and social media to manage this cost-effectively and in a tightly targeted way.
- Signage and wayfinding – the new identity needed to be properly integrated throughout the campus. This gave us the opportunity to address pathway and access issues and plan for the many new buildings that are under construction.
What we delivered
Digital Strategy
Responsive Web Design
Hosting
UX Design
Web Maintenance & Management
Brand Strategy
Logo Development
Print Design & Production Management
Corporate Identity & Brand Implementation
Illustration, Photography, Video & Animation
Verbal Branding
Marketing Strategy
Email Marketing
Social Media
What a combination – it’s like Captain Caveman meets Lady Penelope.