Royal Holloway: Communications & External Relations Team Responsibilities and Achievements

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1 Royal Holloway: Communications & External Relations Team Responsibilities and Achievements MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS The Marketing Communications team provides strategic planning and delivery of marketing communications to raise Royal Holloway s profile through the work of its academic departments, as well as supporting the Student Recruitment & Partnerships Directorate to achieve recruitment targets. In addition, our Design Studio provides high quality design for our clients, ensuring it complies with our brand, as well as print production services. Our responsibilities include: Annual strategic planning for departments and faculties, focusing on student recruitment, research and teaching Production of audio, video, multimedia, print and other communications, plus tailored web support, to target departmental and overall recruitment priorities All College advertising, primarily for student recruitment Communications support for major College initiatives Marketing and communications support for Student Recruitment & Partnerships, on open days, recruitment fairs, conversion activities. Prospectus, departmental brochures and other marketing materials. The Design Studio also produces printed collateral in support of core College activities e.g. strategic documents, events invitations, Graduation, plus internal initiatives e.g. Welcome Week. Some achievements this year Successfully implemented the new brand across all materials Delivered marketing and communications activities that saw an increase in applications (all types) of 13.5% and increase in C/Fs of 15.1% and C/Is of 36.5%. Vastly improved social media engagement by developing a content strategy, resulting in a 200% increase in Facebook likes and an 800% increase in shares, plus a 36% increase in Twitter followers and a more engaged audience. Successfully delivered the BBC Stargazing event in Jan 2014, which reached over 3million people, and brought 7,000 visitors on campus. Improve research webpages on departmental sites to enable quicker, clearer access to star academic staff and potential supervisors at PG level. Bring Research Centre websites into line with the visual identity Support Student Recruitment, particularly at PG level and with schools. With Development and other colleagues, create a usable database of scholarship recipients that can be used for profiles. Develop further profile-raising opportunities at Faculty/Research Theme level e.g. along the lines of Cheltenham Science Festival, raising profile of the Art Collection and Picture Gallery as part of the College and as a separate visitor attraction.

2 DIGITAL AND INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS TEAM The Digital and Internal Communications team manages digital media and campus communications for staff and students. We manage and deliver the College s primary internal and external communication channels: Royalholloway.ac.uk ecampus and iquad (student and staff intranets) Print communications to staff and current students from professional, campus and student services regarding project updates, offers, promotions and initiatives Campus Me app Digital signage Internal and external surveys including staff engagement, NSS, PTES and PRES Change communications including projects such as: the library building, masterplan, governance review, implementation of new systems e.g. centralised timetabling, car park management Corporate publications Launched a responsive site for royalholloway.ac.uk to optimise our website on all devices. Updated our website URL and addresses from rhul.ac.uk (better known by internal stakeholders) to royalholloway.ac.uk to strengthen the unique identity of our university. Generated an increase in catering turnover of c.11% so far this year, through successful marketing promotions Created and implemented the new student focused brand for current students, which has been rolled out in all print student publications and materials We undertake reviews of sections of the website in turn. This year, for example, we updated and improved the Media Arts pages: in the last year page views have increased by per cent and unique page views increased by per cent. We have put in place consultation and engagement plans for staff and students for all College change projects. We have produced regular communications for staff and students, including the weekly ezines and Principal s message. Redesign and implement a responsive design for our student and staff intranets. For the first time, deliver co-ordinated new student/welcome Week arrival communications Improving the Campus App, giving greater functionality and improved design Increase engagement with students by delivering new experiential marketing initiatives Delivering writing for the web surgeries to help staff improve their web content. Implement programme of staff engagement activities aligned to strategic priorities Increased engagement amongst staff and students with all major change projects.

3 PRESS OFFICE The Press Office is responsible for raising the profile of Royal Holloway locally, nationally and internationally. We work with academics to promote their research and expertise. We highlight the achievements of our staff, students and alumni and work to protect and strengthen our reputation. We raise Royal Holloway s profile in the media by pitching story ideas to journalists, through press releases, placing opinion pieces and setting up interviews with academics. We also offer media training to academics, as well as promoting our media coverage internally and online. In addition, we produce the biannual magazine Community Matters and carry out media monitoring. The press office has seized on every opportunity for broadcast interviews and as a result, has built up good relationships with the main broadcasters. The main highlights include Professor Mark Brown discussing his research into bumblebees with the BBC and ITV, Professor Scott Elias being interviewed on BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service about how Native Americans survived the last Ice Age and Dr Carolyn McGettigan featuring in a discussion on BBC London about her research into how the brain responds to fake laughter. In addition, we have taken advantage of good filming opportunities such as the Picture Gallery featuring in the Downton Abbey Christmas special. The press office has worked hard to pitch academics as experts in the media, acting quickly in response to breaking news stories and placing a number of opinion pieces. Examples include Dr Betty Jay writing about the problems encountered when communicating the experiences of the Great War for the Guardian, Dr Graham Smith being interviewed about the Ukraine crisis on Sky News, Dr Andrea Mammone being interviewed about the D-Day anniversary on Sky News, Dr Ian Candy being interviewed by Swiss national television about the UK floods and Victoria Mapplebeck being interviewed on Sky News about the 10 th anniversary of Facebook and writing about how technology archives personal memories for The Huffington Post. The press office also successfully managed media relations during the Queen s visit to Royal Holloway in March We secured attendance from 14 media organisations which resulted in great coverage of the event in local, national and international media. Broadcast, print and online media hits have increased significantly over the past two years. In the period September 2012 September 2013 the total number of hits increased by 113% and this high level of coverage has been maintained over the past 10 months, with broadcast doubling from the previous year. Follow HE policy and trends to identify opportunities to put forward Senior Management for interviews/opinion pieces to raise their profile and that of Royal Holloway. Pitch Royal Holloway as a location for filming to raise our profile Continue to run a media training programme to ensure our academics are well-equipped to work with the media and respond to any press queries and to grow our Directory of Experts. Identify upcoming conferences and opportunities to meet with education, science and arts journalists and continue to build relationships with other sector organisations such as the Science Media Centre, Stempra and Universities UK.

4 DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICE The Development and Alumni Relations team has a target to raise 25 million over a five year period. This fundraising is being conducted underneath the banner of The Curiosity Project, with individual projects within that represent key areas of College development: our new Library and other buildings, sports development, careers development and scholarships and bursaries to support our students. You can find out more at royalholloway.ac.uk/curious. This year we have laid the foundations for our major campaign, and we have: Recruited a Cabinet of leading business people, entrepreneurs and philanthropists, to drive fundraising activity Identified a pool of 500+ potential major donors and a pipeline of 10m in asks, and set up meetings for the Principal with priority prospects Launched the Buy A Brick campaign as part of the Library Project Increased legacies by almost 2m. Along with the Curiosity Project, the team is also responsible for maintaining our relationships with our 50,000 alumni spread across the globe. We work closely with College departments to maintain ties with alumni, facilitate reunions, manage a network of mentors for recent graduates and produce regular alumni communications, such as our monthly ezine and annual magazine. We are also responsible for the Bedford Society, a cohort of 5,000 Bedford alumni who have regular events and a dynamic committee. We run the Alumni Fund, a calling campaign where Current students call alumni and raise funds to benefit the student experience, such as support for College's 100 clubs and societies, which currently has 600 regular donors. The team also oversees the stewardship of over forty scholarships, awards and prizes this involved engaging donors with recipients, ensuring funds are disbursed correctly and these benefits are marketed to help attract prospective students. EVENTS OFFICE The Events Office plans and manages the College s annual programme of events to raise the profile of the College and to maximise fundraising opportunities. We work closely with the Head of the Department to support the implementation of the Communications and External Relations Strategy. We work very closely with the Principal and the Senior Management Team as well as Heads of Departments. The events provide a forum for the Principal to entertain external guests at the College. We also work closely with the Development Department by contributing to the planning and organisation of fundraising activities, particularly for Bedford events. We also produce, market and sell a range of College promotional books. We seek sponsorship for some of the events as appropriate. We develop and maintain relationships with the local community through links with RBC, Surrey County, the Egham Show by holding Civic Services and Reception for the Mayors of Runnymede as appropriate. We run an extensive programme of College tours and work closely with the Curator to provide a wide-ranging programme for tours of the Picture Gallery The events include: Royal Visits, Honorary Fellows Ceremony, award of Honorary Degrees at Graduation Ceremonies, annual public lecture programme (including Inaugural Lectures), Garden Party, VIP concerts, Heritage Open Day, St Cecilia s Concert and Feast, the Summer and Yuletide

5 Feasts and Celebratory events as appropriate. We also plan and manage Memorial Services and Farewell and Retirement parties for Senior Management as appropriate. We produce and edit the annual What s On Events Programme and manage the College s mailing list for events, which currently includes Music Department concerts. We promote events throughout the years by way of posters and on the College website, as well as through press releases. These events were attended by over 7000 visitors in the last year. The visit by HM The Queen in March (attended by 300 guests) Honorary Fellows Ceremony and Dinner in May (attended by 200 guests) Sarah Fox s Recital in February (attended by 250 guests) The Old Bailey Dinner in April, to launch our new Law degree, which brought together contacts and alumni from the legal field, including judges, barristers and solicitors. Garden Party with 8k raised in sponsorship of which 6k will go to Parkinson s UK Magna Carta Lecture in June attended by 300 guests and followed by 70 strong dinner an important step towards Magna Carta 800 Celebrations in 2015 Award of Honorary Degrees and of an Honorary Fellowship at the Graduation in July What s On programme of events for 2014/15 creation, production and distribution Magna Carta Lecture 2015 finalise arrangements with Jack Straw, the last speaker of the series as part of the Magna Carta 800; organise a potential Royal Visit and a high-profile dinner for world dignitaries attending the celebrations on the Runnymede meadow Garden Party and Students Reunion in the week preceding the Magna Carta festivities Organise a full lecture programme for 2014/15 Organise the Herringham Collection event at Royal Holloway for Bedford alumni