The Client
The University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC) is a leading voice on government skills policy and all aspects of higher and degree apprenticeships. The organisation represents over 70 university members across the UK.
The Brief
With UVAC having not previously invested heavily in PR or established a big media presence, Source was tasked with building its profile from the ground up, by driving the news agenda across skills policy, specifically higher and degree apprenticeships. The challenge was as follows:
- Generate editorial coverage to give UVAC and its university members a voice in national, regional, and vertical trade media
- Drive thought leadership by raising the profile of UVAC’s CEO, Dr. Mandy Crawford-Lee and championing her knowledge and expertise across government skills policy and higher and degree apprenticeships
- Help recruit new UVAC members and involve existing ones within the PR and marketing activity
- Engage employers and lobby government policy makers by communicating the importance of degree apprenticeships to the skills gap and wider economy
The Strategy
With the brief in hand, our focus was on producing a series of creative campaign stories that would not only communicate UVAC’s position as the authority on higher and degree apprenticeships but would also push the news agenda and our key messages. We achieved this through the following:
- Developed insight and opinion-led news stories tailored to regional, vertical trade, education, and national press.
- Produced thought leadership articles on behalf of Dr. Mandy Crawford-Lee for publications such as The Scotsman and The Yorkshire Post around key apprenticeship issues.
- Created a series of in-depth UVAC member surveys to gauge views and data on topics such as social inclusion and the government’s Growth and Skills Levy. We publicised the subsequent results and were able to secure coverage in key vertical trade media, including the Nursing Times, Architects Journal and Construction News.
- Produced a brand video to showcase the many benefits of becoming a UVAC member.
Client Testimonial
“UVAC has benefitted hugely from the professionalism and expertise of Source in elevating our media presence and promoting our contribution to the discourse on the role of universities in delivering UK Government skills and sector priorities across the media. The results of this brief speak for themselves; without Source, UVAC would have not had the reach or the opportunity to showcase its purpose and strategy for securing routes in and through work to the professions for all learners, of all ages.”
Dr Mandy Crawford-Lee, chief executive of UVAC
