We’ve been working on an exciting project with a group of students from Norwich on an Apprentice style challenge. And we have been seriously impressed with what they have created.
Back in November, we set a group of 40 Level 2 Media Studies students from City College Norwich the task of brainstorming and producing a digital campaign to promote Castle Quarter’s growing social, leisure and lifestyle offering.
They were asked to create campaigns using social media and a longer video, to be shown online. Crucially, their campaigns had to appeal to families looking for ways to have a fun day out together at Castle Quarter, young groups of friends or couples on a date night. After coming up with their brilliant ideas, the students worked together in teams to shoot the content and create their final edits. And at the end of January, they came back to present and pitch their ideas.
The project gave students the chance to put their media production skills into practice, while also offering some real-life work experience, networking and confidence building opportunities too. As well as taking the brief from the ‘client’ – Gemma Hyde who works here in the centre, and Hannah who works for our PR agency, Plain Speaking PR, the students also needed to approach and persuade some of our tenants to take part too, including Vector VR gaming, Retro Replay, Putt Putt Social crazy golf, Itaewon Korean Supermarket and Pettitt and Boo pet store.
Presenting their final campaigns back to Gemma and Hannah at the end of January in our boardroom – Apprentice-style – we had the tough job of selecting a winning team.
Congratulations to Katie, Lucy, Samia and Chloe, who created engaging, energetic campaigns that really answered the brief, with each of them winning a £50 gift voucher to spend at Castle Quarter.
Karen Buchanan is the Course Leader for Media Studies at City College Norwich and says;
“We’re enormously grateful to Gemma and the team at Castle Quarter for working with us, and the kindness and encouragement they’ve shown all our students. They were nervous but really excited about the prospect of this project. Going through this process and hearing encouraging feedback will benefit them in so many ways as they move ahead in their careers. You could almost see their confidence soar as the project went on, helping us to develop the next generation of media talent.”
Gemma from our management team adds; “We were so impressed with the students’ creativity, originality and media skills. They’ve worked brilliantly as a team, to plan, shoot and present digital campaigns that met our brief, and should be incredibly proud of the content they’ve created, and for conducting themselves in such a professional way.”
Keep a close eye on our social media channels – you could see some student-produced campaigns on there soon!
Quotes from City College Norwich students about the experience:
Ryan
“I learnt how to plan and create an advertising campaign for a business, which has been brilliant. The best bit was shooting the footage inside real companies, like Vector VR and Putt Putt Social. They were so helpful and friendly, and we really enjoyed creating content with them.”
Lucy
“We’ve been able to get real-life experience using our practical media production skills, like learning how to edit properly. I spent a lot of time behind the camera, creating the Castle Quarter brand video to appeal to families. It made me think about how to take different and interesting shots, using angles and lighting. I’d like to work in the media, and these new editing and filming skills are going to help me a lot in the future.”
Katie
“I’ve learnt loads about how to create professional content, how to plan a shoot, filming with different angles like shooting from the floor, how to get the best effects with lighting, and editing creatively. I want to go on and study Level 3 media production at college after this and my ambition is to work in radio one day.”
Edward
“I’ve been doing editing work in my own time for the past three years, and this was a chance to work as an editor for real, on a live brief from Castle Quarter. One day I hope to get a job at the BBC in editing.”
Jade
“My favourite part was the day we came into the centre to carry out customer research, asking visitors questions. I love finding out new things and meeting new people, and it was so interesting to chat to customers and find out how they celebrate Valentine’s and spend their time in the centre. And it was a rare chance to see behind the scenes at Castle Quarter, somewhere I’ve been so many times before.”
Lola
“We had a lot of fun with this project, creating content that we thought young people like us would find interesting and funny, it was a great chance to give our own personal take on the brief. We filmed me doing cartwheels for a social campaign, something I never thought I’d be doing as part of my course! Working together outside the classroom was great, giving us the freedom to think about how we, as young people, would engage with a brand campaign.”