Joshua Nicholls
BA (Hons) Digital Marketing student
What types of projects did you get involved with during the first year of the course?
Our first project was all about our own personal goals and how we were going to use the course to achieve them. It was really helpful to learn about the industry and what our future within it may be. It definitely sets you up to approach the course with a purpose.
What has been the most fun or interesting project or activity you have been involved with?
We had a project in which we had to come up with a campaign to make the Ordnance Survey mapping app more appealing to young outdoor adventure sport enthusiasts. As somewhat of a young adventure sport enthusiast myself I really enjoyed getting to know the ins and outs of the industry. It was fun wondering around campus with my project partner stopping other unsuspecting students and asking them really deep questions about nature and the outdoors.
Have you had any opportunities to work with people from the digital marketing industry and if so, how?
Yes, for our second unit we had the strategic director and the senior account director for Hunterlodge Advertising travel up from London to give us a live brief. The brief was for a campaign they were actually working on themselves so it’s about as real as you can get in the classroom. They came back to university about a month later to see how we were getting on with our projects and to give feedback, which was really helpful.
What do you enjoy most about your course?
I like that all of our lecturers have lots of substantial and varied industry experience. It puts weight behind what you’re being taught when your lecturer can link the theory to their own personal professional experiences.
What is the community like?
It's a bit like a university within a university. All of our courses relate to each other in one way or another which gives us opportunities to use resources we might otherwise not have access to, for example, we recently had to develop a campaign to get teenagers to the cinema and it was really helpful being able to get some insight from the lecturers.
Are there many social events for students/ clubs/ societies to join?
There are loads of clubs and societies to join, I personally would be playing basketball but I had an injury early on in the year. There are always different groups and societies around the entrance of the main building looking for members.
What one piece of advice would you give to a student about to start your course?
As a 26-year-old it was a big decision to return to university and become a “mature student” but I’ve found it easy to settle into the course. We are a very diverse group of different ages, backgrounds and experience. My one piece of advice would be to bring your unique personality with you and let it shine through in your work!