Think Student Live 2021

The event is now over for another year. Thank you to everyone that joined us both in person and virtually.

Watch on demand

Brand, insights and purpose: Making an impact on the students changing the world.

There was a lot to take in at this year's Think Student Live, but fear not, everything is available on-demand on the app and the platform for you to catch up whenever you're ready. To log in, use your existing username and password to access the content both from our main stage and breakout sessions.

We've posted the timings below so you can skip straight to what you want to watch.

Here is a reminder of who we heard from on the day 👇

â–² HIDE

2.00pm

Student Hut Opinion Panel: What students are feeling right now 

Listen in to what happens when students from different universities, backgrounds and parts of the country come together to answer your questions and discuss what it means to be a student in 2020.

2.45pm

How can we make every student feel represented?

In this session, Unibuddy will discuss how harnessing the voice of your strongest advocates, your current students, can give prospects from all backgrounds the chance to see and speak to students who are just like them.

3.30pm

Meet the speakers 

This year, while we can’t all be together in one room, we still want to give you the opportunity to quiz and chat with the experts. So questions at the ready for our Think Student Live speakers, they’re all ears.

4.00pm

Edurank award announcements

How does an Instagram post or a YouTube series stand up in the eyes of 140,000 students? Stick around to see who came out on top and which campaigns were worthy of that student kudos to walk away with the winner’s trophy.

â–² Student Insights

Interview with top student influencer, Ruby Granger

With over 500,000 followers and subscribers on YouTube and Instagram, it’s safe to say Ruby Granger is one busy student. We’ll be sitting down with Ruby for an exclusive interview discussing all things social media, student influencers and the success (and perils) of engaging with tens of thousands of students on the daily.

What we’ve learnt from talking to thousands of students 

Our researchers look to the insights found by the Student Hut Tracker and what we’ve discovered from speaking directly to students every fortnight. From mental health and pandemic panic to loneliness and love lives, we explore how our understanding of student wellbeing can help inform your communication and marketing strategy and plans.

How US students feel about Covid-19 and how this can help us #ThinkStudent

From our New York office, expert Lee dives into the insight gained from analysing 40,000 data points, garnered from deep-dive interviews with over 200 American college students. This session challenges institutions to truly #thinkstudent and to use data-driven insights to inform and pivot content and communications strategies to ensure they are doing and being what students really need right now. 

Black Lives Matter, the focus group

Our marketers shared the findings of a focus group they ran with a panel of Black British students. We listened to how the group felt about the racial prejudices they face every day, as well as how well represented they felt on campus, in faculties, and in the media. They discussed actions that institutions should take to ensure they offer meaningful change and support.

â–² Creative and Strategy

Being brave with branding

Together, Natives and Study in Sweden created a brand that championed quality, freedom, inclusiveness and sustainability; ‘The Swedish Way’. Charlie and Doug will discuss how research formed a critical pillar of this project, creating a space to be bold, disruptive and provocative but also inclusive and welcoming, as all voices were heard to form a brand that can now be owned by all.

Creating a compelling TikTok content strategy

Want to know more about how to create engaging content and compelling campaigns on the student-favourite TikTok? If you’re a Marketing Director considering TikTok in your advertising plans or a content creator wanting to know how to engage, then this event session was made for you.

Student retention: How can universities fight drop-out?

UK university students have gone through unprecedented turmoil throughout 2020. In this session, we delve into our research to examine whether students currently feel supported, how likely they are to drop out and what can be done to avoid this. We will also be looking at whether factors such as gender, ethnicity and socio-economic factors are having an adverse effect, as well as guidance and recommendations for the HE sector on how to help and support students during this time.

â–² Recruitment Revolution for 2021

Digital-only Clearing

For most, Clearing and A-Level Results Day are remembered for u-turns and chaos, but in this session with St George’s, University of London and Akero expert Alex, we look to the wins and celebrations of what came from the first digital-only Clearing project. The success, the impact and the lessons learnt - what can you take away to get ready for January’s upcoming deadlines?

How to understand your true ROI, CPA, and set strategic marketing budgets

In this session, Alex will look at the impacts and results of when you can align your systems through the entire funnel, and in the process, improve conversions, capture more leads, track ROI and set yourself strategic objectives and budgets.

Programmatic OOH 101 

JC Decaux introduces the concept of a ‘Two Screen World’, in order to enhance the effectiveness of strategic Out of Home & online campaigns, and the virtues of programmatic Digital Out of Home.

â–² Mental Health and Wellbeing

How to support yourself, your team and their mental health and wellbeing

Overwhelmed? Stressed? Do you recognise the signs when you need support? When others need support? Mental health is something to be aware of at this challenging time in Higher Education. We invite you to join us to discuss how colleagues are feeling at this time, reflect on our own experiences of stress and share with you some tips that you could take away from the session that we hope will help you now and in the coming months.

Winning attention and creating connections with great content

Cem Topcam, Head of Copy and Content
Yvonne Boateng, Content Marketing Consultant
Alex Duffy, Social Media Manager,
Manchester Metropolitan University

The old rules of advertising still apply, but as the student marketing landscape continues to change we need a new way of thinking. In this session, Cem, Alex and Yvonne will discuss how content and media can work better together to win your audience’s attention, create real connections and drive action when it matters most.

Ask the students: Student Pulse panel

Nick Willmer, Head of Education
Student Pulse Panel of Students

Listen in to what happens when students from our Student Pulse panel from different universities, backgrounds and parts of the country come together to answer your questions and discuss what it means to be a student in 2021.

The Think Student Awards

How does an Instagram post or a YouTube series stand up in the eyes of 140,000 students? Stick around with cocktails in tow (do we need to say more?) to see who came out on top and which campaigns were worthy of that student kudos to walk away with the winner’s trophy.

How to harness the power of student influencers

Derin Adetosoye, Student influencer
Anastasia Macnaghten, Lead Account Planner

With over 60,000 followers and subscribers on YouTube and Instagram, it’s safe to say Derin Adetosoye is one busy student. We’ll be sitting down with Derin for an exclusive interview discussing all things social media, student influencers and the success (and perils) of engaging with tens of thousands of students on the daily.

Introducing the world of Akero Data Labs: democratising student data

Alex Calder, Product Director
Natalie Gould, Senior Researcher

In this session, you’ll have the opportunity to take a first look at Akero’s Data Labs, Akero’s trusted, single-source-of-truth for marketing data from across the education sector. A democratised data suite that provides everything you need, for free, to support your in-house marketing activity and plan your next winning tactical marketing campaign or student recruitment activity.

Brand positioning for institutions

Charlie Penrose, Creative Director
Cem Topcam, Head of Copy and Content

In a fiercely competitive market, the only way to connect with prospective students is to stand out. In this session, Charlie and Cem will walk through how to effectively communicate what makes you different and how to articulate that to the ever-complex student audience. 

Leveraging your data and insight to build student loyalty

Nick Willmer, Head of Education
Natalie Gould, Senior Researcher
Julian Pareja, Lead Solutions Consultant

Experts in everything from student insights to conversion and retention, Julian, Nat and Nick uncover what your team must do to capture and utilise data to help inform your enrolment and retention strategies, keep your dropout rate to a minimum, understand your student audience and foster a sense of loyalty and connection to your brand. 

Tracking impact and measuring cost per enrolment

Jenni Parsons, Insights Director, Uniquest
Holly Cartlidge, Education Consultant
Alex Calder, Product Director
Anastasia Macnaghten, Lead Account Planner

Time and time again ‘tracking marketing spend to enrolment’ is the number one challenge shared by marketing professionals in the education sector.

In this session, Alex and Holly reveal how to optimise your marketing strategy towards the channels that are generating the most applications, making every pound of your budget count, and how to truly attribute ROI back to the very first touchpoint.

How to embrace the human side of programmatic advertising

Tom Setter, Advertising Director

For many, programmatic advertising is about technology, automation, machine-based. Tom, Director of Advertising takes on this session to challenge your thinking and put forward the contextual targeting capabilities and the audience understanding possibilities of this advertising. Meet the human side of programmatic.gns.

Using conscious advertising to communicate your brand values

Oliver Mott, Head of Social Media, Starling Bank
Tom Setter, Advertising Director
Nick Willmer, Head of Education

Institutions and organisations can no longer simply sell a product or experience. They need to sell a connection, lifestyle, value, too, in order to engage with their audience.  Sustainable media company Edukudu, digital challenger and Gen Z favourite Starling Bank, and ethical advertising advocate Tom, sit down to unpick what it means to be a modern brand that stands up to be counted in the eyes of students.

International student marketing: Barriers and opportunities

Jack Craig, Senior University Partnership Manager, Unibuddy
Charlene Allen, Education Consultant and BUILA Chair
Richard Campbell, Head of Marketing
Sam Whittaker, Research and Analysis Consultant, Times Higher Education

For every institution, international students make up a critical section of their student body. Unsurprisingly, Covid-19 has disrupted this exchange beyond pre-2020 recognition. In this roundtable, marketing and industry experts discuss the barriers and opportunities that we’re now presented with, and suggest solutions and approaches in this testing new environment.    

Timings

Main stage timings

 

38:22 Opening remarks

55:30 Leveraging your data and insight to build student loyalty

1:29:40 Winning students' attention and creating connections

2:43:50 Harnessing the power of student influencers

4:29:07 Using conscious advertising to communicate your brand values

5:15:38 Making an impact: The role of data and visibility in the student journey

6:13:00 International student marketing: Barriers and opportunities

6:52:30 Ask the students

7:39:15 Think Student Awards

 

Breakout timings

 

21:40 Welcome

40:30 How to embrace the human side of programmatic advertising

2:28:38 Introducing the world of Akero Data Labs: Democratising student data

4:11:50 Brand positioning for institutions

5:02:08 Corporate social responsibility 

The content will remain available to you via the app until 5pm on 30 November. So there's plenty of time to rewind, refresh and soak in all that insight.  And of course, we put on these events for you. We'd love to hear your thoughts on what you loved and what you'd love to see next time.

Getting onto the platform:

By now, you should have receive an email from our event partner, Forumm, with your login details. If you have any issues using the platform, please contact our events team on events@netnatives.co.uk or Forumm using: support@forumm.events

You can view the agenda on the platform and chose which sessions you would like to attend, either on the main stage or in the breakout room. There are two rooms are at the top of the screen on two separate tabs. Use the timings above to fast forward to the section you'd like to watch. If you have any trouble watching these sessions on-demand, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Enjoy!

Login now

We want your feedback. Let us know what you thought of the day