Tsungai Mutyavavari
A digital marketing student whose eye for compelling social media content prompted a huge spike in engagement levels for multiple clients during her industry internship has been named Undergraduate Placement Student of the Year by the University of Northampton.
Tsungai Mutyavavari has worked with clients including Northampton College, Northampton Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID) and the Park Inn during her placement period with award-winning Brixworth-based agency Orange Juice Communications.
At a ceremony held at the University’s Waterside Campus, the third-year student was named the winner in recognition of the impact her work had for clients and the impression she made as part of the Orange Juice team.
She said: “I was delighted to even be shortlisted for the award so to actually win is an incredible feeling. My placement year has been a real rollercoaster as my original company closed down just a few months after I started working there. I was concerned I was going to be left high and dry but thankfully Orange Juice came along and it has proved the perfect placement.
“I’ve learnt so much about how to apply the existing skills I have to a real-world business environment, where you need to think slightly more commercially about your content than when you are doing it for your own channels. There is more of an emphasis on time management and planning and it’s been a valuable experience for me.
“The Orange Juice team has made me feel incredibly welcome and I have enjoyed the responsibility they placed on me, allowing me to go out and deal with clients myself every week and giving me the freedom to shape the style and themes of the content.”
Tsungai is a micro-influencer on Instagram, with clothing deals from a number of leading brands. She used her expertise on the platform to create a series of highly engaging Reels that were well-received by clients and their social media audiences.
Daniel Owens, director of Orange Juice who has overseen Tsungai’s placement, said: “This is fully deserved recognition for her hard work. When we heard about the unfortunate ending to her original placement we quickly stepped in and gave her the chance to shine, which she has grabbed with both hands.
“Tsungai has a real eye for high-quality content and has thrived on the responsibility we have placed on her. We have tried to give her the space and freedom to go and do what she does best – which is creating really good, attention-grabbing content.
“The results speak for themselves. Within a month she had doubled the average reach and engagement figures for one client and follower numbers have grown significantly across all the accounts she has been managing.
“She has passed on skills to other members of the team and has hopefully picked up a few new tricks herself too. As an example of a knowledge transfer partnership this has been a real success and we have no doubt she will go on to great things.”
Orange Juice Communications is a PR, marketing and events agency with more than 10 years’ experience of working with clients around the world, predominantly in the healthcare sector.
The agency pioneered the launch of two awareness campaigns within the diabetes sector, Hypo Awareness Week and Insulin Safety Week, which it runs every year across hundreds of UK hospitals. The concept has already been successfully exported to Australia and there are plans to roll this out further in the future.
The campaigns have been credited with saving the lives of hundreds of patients who may otherwise have died of diabetes-related complications on admission to hospital.
For more information visit www.ojpr.co.uk.
