EdPlace worked with the marketing students at Oxford Brookes University currently taking the Marketing Communications Campaign course. The students' assignment was to develop a marketing communications campaign to help promote EdPlace to parents during the revision period.

EdPlace's CEO, Will Paterson, and CMO, Jessica Craker, were invited to the university to see the final presentations of the top performing students who excelled on the project. We've invited the top students to share their experience with us.

Laurie Smart     

Laurie Smart shares his experience here: 

EdPlace: Tell us a little bit about how you approached your campaign strategy for EdPlace.

Laurie: I approached the campaign so that EdPlace could effectively target the audience in a way that was creative, but also engaging, whilst utilising the budget spend as efficiently as possible. I found that for parents, their child's success is one of their biggest worries, so centred the campaign around encouraging children to succeed.

EdPlace: What do you think EdPlace’s strengths and opportunities are based on your SWOT analysis of EdPlace and the market?

Laurie: One of EdPlace’s biggest strengths is their ability to help children engage in creative ways, at the best value possible. The EdPlace service offers quality that is already pre-controlled ensuring every child has the best service. Another strength is that children can access EdPlace at any time of the day, so are not dependant on tutor’s timetables aligning.

EdPlace: Portraying EdPlace as a character helps everyone relate to the EdPlace brand and connect with our customers in a consistent way. If EdPlace was a character, what would we be or how would you describe our personality?

Laurie: A fun Dad. He is serious when he needs to be and when it matters, but also will roll around in the garden with you as well!

EdPlace: If EdPlace were to offer you a job on the marketing team today, what would you bring to the team?

Laurie: I would bring an attitude that is open to new ideas, along with a strong work ethic and a collaborative attitude to achieve the best results possible for EdPlace.

EdPlace: After taking this particular course, what is one thing you’ve learned about marketing that you didn’t know before or something new you’ve learned about yourself?

Laurie: I learned about the importance of key influencers and the influence they have over the market. I also learned about the importance of personal recommendations when it comes to choosing the products and services we use.

EdPlace: If you were to write a positioning statement for EdPlace, what would it be?

Laurie: EdPlace provides children with quality educational tools, and parents with piece of mind, better than any other in the child tuition market. EdPlace does this by creating engaging resources children can use day or night to help them succeed in life.

EdPlace: Anything else you’d like to say or add about your coursework/experience?

Laurie: Just to say thank you for the opportunity to share my ideas with the EdPlace team!

"We were really impressed with Laurie's campaign strategy and execution. Laurie particularly stood out against his peers for his commercial acumen and turning a clear strategy into an actionable campaign. He brought creativity to his execution with the hashtag #reachmydreams and delivered his presentation very professionally. In fact, he recommended many ideas we are currently pursuing. Fantastic job, Laurie." Jessica Craker, EdPlace CMO