My Unforgettable Year
Kirsty Rollings, Head of Communications and Marketing: Engagement and Partnerships, reflects on her first year in her new role at Keele
Today I celebrate one year since returning to Keele University in the role of Head of Communications and Marketing: Engagement and Partnerships. Who knew that two weeks later I’d move to home-working and still be there in 12 months?!
It’s been a rollercoaster, but taking the time to reflect on the year, these six big achievements rose to the forefront.
- #WeAreTogether Campaign
That moment when I saw this billboard, in the flesh, on the A34 opposite Royal Stoke University Hospital, I felt proud to have led this campaign. It details some of the ways in which Keele staff, students and partners responded to support the region following Covid-19, in an impactful number-led design.
This multi-channel campaign ran for six weeks and had 7,000,000 impressions and reached over 800,000 individual people. It was planned, designed and executed entirely in-house by the Strategic Communications and Brand Directorate.
2. Cobra Biologics manufacturing Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine on Keele campus
When the world was waiting to be rescued by a Covid19 vaccine, how delighted were we to share the news that Cobra Biologics — based on Keele’s Science and Innovation park — were contracted by Astra Zeneca to manufacture their vaccine? Very. My colleague Rob (Twitter @Rob_Meadows) authored this story that in different updates (by Kirstie @KirstieDolphin and Andy @andy_cain16) has now been read by over 25,000 people.
3. Digital Only Communications
My team have worked with the Keele Gateway to move all the Gateway’s communications with our partner organisations, to be through digital formats. This includes delivering 12 webinars in the Keele Talks Business series last summer. They were designed to support Staffordshire businesses during the pandemic — all advertising was planned, delivered and measured in-house led by Gethin Thomas with Rob Meadows, and were attended by over 800 local organisations.
4. Courtyard by Marriott Hotel Tour
A short December visit to campus for a tour of the new Courtyard by Marriott Hotel. The images tell the story and needless to say, in the ‘Business’ section of the site, this story been our second most read of 2021 so far (after the Cobra Biologics story, of course!).
Photo by Tom Maurice (Twitter @TomOMaurice)
5. Relaunched the Keele Gateway
Working with our talented Strategic Communications and Brand design team, we refreshed the visual identity of the Keele Gateway to be more welcoming to prospective partners and to align closer to Keele’s central brand. Essentially, demonstrated through our webpages, we moved from this:
To this -
Smart, isn’t it? Read more about the refresh, in my blog here
6. Breaking the Mould Awards
And to end with our annual Awards Event which celebrated the amazing achievements of many organisations who worked with Keele Gateway to innovate or grow. Together with the Keele Gateway Manager and an external events agency, we planned and delivered a virtual event which brought together a mix of live and recorded streams from over 50 components — this included all of the shortlisted awards representatives waiting live for announcements on their award category. It was hosted by BBC Countryfile’s Anita Rani — she was fabulous.
What a way to end the year!
It was never the start I expected in my new role. Like everybody, the past 12 months has been challenging, but good to reflect on achievements — I’d encourage you to do the same.
