A promotional drive which secured unprecedented UK and international media coverage for a Bishop Auckland College music course has secured a national industry award.
In January the college launched an evening class designed to prepare budding performers for auditions such as ITV hit show the X Factor. The aim was to use popular culture as a hook to attract young, unemployed people to enrol at the college for the first time.
Students who enrolled on the 17-week programme, which ended just in time for the 2013 auditions for the show, received technical tuition in singing and performing and coaching on how to project themselves confidently.
Being the first course of its kind to directly link the NCFE Level 1 Certificate in Music to TV talent shows, news spread quickly with coverage across most national newspapers and many regional radio stations across the UK. This included a live broadcast from the college’s main campus on ITV’s Daybreak programme, and North East regional television, radio and press coverage.
International media interest included the Hollywood Reporter in the US, Australian press and titles across Europe, which led to enquiries about the course from as far afield as Malta.
The college has since received a Silver Award in the PR campaign category at the College Marketing Network’s FE First Awards.
Kevin Burns, Head of Marketing and Schools Liaison, said, “We were astonished by the level of media interest in this course, which helped us successfully recruit a group of students, some of whom have since progressed on to higher level full time courses.”
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
