Insight into BAM Account Management
One of the most enjoyable things about working as an Account Manager at BAM is being able to work closely with clients and share their journey with them. I have been very fortunate to work alongside a travel company StudentUniverse for just over 3 years and I have seen them grow and develop from when they first entered into the UK space into a hugely successful brand.
When I first met with StudentUniverse they were set up in a small office in central London running the UK division almost single handed. Since then the business has expanded massively and now StudentUniverse have a lively office, sales figures are through the roof, the brand is now loved by students right across the UK and StudentUniverse are now part of the multi-billion pound Flight Centre group – it has definitely been an exciting few years!!
At the end of 2016 StudentUniverse approached BAM alongside another travel company called Topdeck who are a bus touring company that design trips for 18-30 year olds. They had a brief where they wanted to target students across the UK to raise the awareness of both brands and what they had to offer.
Over a number of planning meetings we devised an engaging and exciting campaign to roll out across six university locations over a six week duration. Each day we would run a number of activities where students could compete to win a T-Shirt and an invite to the end of week finale – they can do this through unlocking mysterious cases, taking on our cyclone machine or winning our paper aeroplane challenge. At the end of the week finale for all of the winners throughout the week to come on back to take part in an Australian themed quiz, the last student standing will win a trip of a lifetime to Australia.
Behind the scenes there is still lots to do, we have to think about all sorts of logistical aspects such as recruitment for brand ambassadors at 6 locations across the UK, as well as hiring the right event manager for the whole duration of the campaign. This process is highly important and takes some time to ensure we have recruited the right people for the campaign and what it entails.
Alongside this we undertake various site recces, although we are very familiar with the University itself, sometimes it’s easier to be on-site and chat face to face with our University contact to ensure we provide our clients with the best possible location to suit their set-up. As a result of doing so we figured at one location there wouldn’t be access to electricity therefore we had to arrange the hire of a generator.
During the planning process we actually changed the concept of the campaign just a few weeks 
prior the live date. We felt that something was missing therefore we all got together and filled the gaps that weren’t quite right. Planning an experiential campaign can be a bit of a journey and I think it’s really important to be flexible and adaptable. In this case we were able to reshape a model that wasn’t quite where we wanted it to be and created something bigger and better within the same budget.
Once the plans were in place for such an exciting experiential campaign the challenge of actually delivering it begins! In our case study you can see what happened when it came to executing the campaign and how it went down with the students. Stay tuned!