Birmingham-based digital marketing agency, EDGE Creative, has partnered with Birmingham Metropolitan College in Sutton Coldfield to bridge the gap between education and employment in the marketing industry.
Every year, design students at the Sutton Coldfield campus of Birmingham Metropolitan College (BMet) are tasked with a large-scale design and branding project. This project is designed to test their skills in not only design, but also brand awareness, consistency, commercial marketing skills, and more.
This is where EDGE thought they could help. Senior Graphic Designer at EDGE, James, also works as a design lecturer at BMet, and decided it would be a good idea to use one of EDGE’s client projects as an example.
He chose Rudds Wellies, a client of EDGE Creative that has been endorsed by Deborah Meaden, as the perfect example.
The students needed to create their own marketing campaign
Rudds Wellies are nestled within a very specific niche. Wellies are a specialised item of footwear, often associated with farm work and hiking. What this means is that Rudds might have a difficult time appealing to a wide audience.
As such, the students were tasked to come up with a full marketing campaign targeting the younger generations as a way of expanding the Rudds consumer base.
They were given 12 weeks to complete the project. During that time, each group needed to produce a social media campaign including a brand mascot or character, branded graphics, a short video, and a detailed strategy of how they would reach their audience.
Since the target audience was the younger generations who may not have much of a need for wellies, the students needed to be creative with their campaign. Many chose to market towards those participating in specific sports or outdoor activities, such as horse riding, fishing, and attending festivals.
Marketing experts at EDGE helped with the assessment process
At the end of the 12-week production period, EDGE’s Creative Director, Louise, and Head of Production, Kelly, visited BMet to assess their work. They watched each group present their designs and ideas and gave their feedback on their work.
They discussed which aspects of each presentation could be considered for an actual marketing campaign EDGE would produce, and what they could do to improve their ideas. Between them, Louise and Kelly made the difficult decision of shortlisting three groups whose work impressed them, and then the college chose an eventual winner.
Receiving the feedback of experts in digital marketing has not only helped the students at BMet improve their future project work, but also given them some insight into the essentials of running a campaign in the industry. It also provided the students the opportunity to ask pointed questions to the judges to find out more about what it’s like to work in marketing.
EDGE graphic designer, James, thinks the partnership is beneficial for all
“Giving our students the opportunity to work alongside local industry experts has been incredible. Not only do they get to learn from Louise and Kelly, some of the best in their field, but they can also put what they’ve learned into practice in a mock professional situation.
Choosing to use an existing client of ours that is a little more niche than some of the typical projects we work on really challenged the students to be creative with their ideas, excuse the pun. It also helps prepare them for the kinds of client they may have to work with in the future.
I hope to make this kind of partnership a regular occurrence.”
Niall from Rudds was honoured to have been chosen for the project
“Personally, I think using real-life marketing examples is an excellent initiative to facilitate learning, and I’m honoured that we were selected as the subject of the work.
We fit into a very specific niche when it comes to our products and finding new and innovative ways to advertise them can be tough. Having seen some of the work these students have produced, I must admit that I’m very impressed – clearly EDGE have rubbed off on them well!
I hope that they’ll consider using us as an example again in the future!”
