Kingston University's marketing team named team of the year at the Heist Awards

Posted Friday 16 July 2021

Kingston University's marketing team developed a new concept for undergraduates.

Kingston University's marketing team has been named team of the year at the Heist Awards by Havas Education this week, with Swansea University, University of East London and University of Suffolk among the runners-up.

With a new team formed in February 2020, following a restructure, the team had to adapt quickly while working remotely as the UK went into a nationwide lockdown. This included moving to a virtual Open Day platform in just six weeks, creating and editing huge volumes of content, as well as managing the Clearing 2020 campaign, producing new undergraduate and postgraduate prospectuses and developing a new undergraduate concept: Bolder. Brighter. Better. Be Part of the Mix.

Marketing Manager at Kingston University Lucy Parrott, was delighted with the results of the awards ceremony. "I'm so proud of what we have achieved in our first year as a team, particularly against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. I've never worked with such a young, talented and passionate team who were quick to adapt, embraced new ways of working and went above and beyond to ensure we met our challenging targets.Producing undergraduate and postgraduate prospectuses remotely was just one of the many challenges faced by the marketing team.

"We had new team members and they all put everything into their work and turning around our fortunes. We are delighted to have our work recognised by the leading HE Marketing awards, especially as competition in our categories was tough."

The team's ability to adapt and respond to the pandemic and the challenge of working remotely saw them beat their targets and impress judges at the Heist Awards. As of 1 February (after the extended deadline), the University achieved an increase of 21.26 per cent on undergraduate applications – exceeding the team's target, while UCAS applications were up by a greater margin than the University's competitors and interest and enquiries in Kingston saw a huge increase.

The judges were impressed with the University's submission and all that the marketing team has achieved in the past year. "Alexa, play 'We are the champions!'. Hooked by this entry from the offset, the judges were blown away by the achievements of the team at Kingston University, who out-performed their competitor set and market averages in an extremely difficult year. A compelling entry from start to finish, the judges really felt what the team had been through and are delighted to call the team at Kingston our Marketing Team of the Year for 2021."

The team was also awarded a Bronze Award in the Best Undergraduate Student Recruitment Campaign category, beating the likes of the University of Surrey and the University of Wolverhampton.

The judges praised the data-driven undergraduate student recruitment campaign, which aimed to attract more 18-year-olds to the University. "This initiative was ambitious, with clear outlined aims. There was a good use of data to drive decisions, and fantastic outcomes that helped contribute to the historic performance of the institution."