Marketing agency’s national award joy

A COSHAM marketing agency has taken home a national award for its campaign to support students during the pandemic.

Hewitt Matthews, based at Lakeside,NorthHarbour,won theCampaignoftheYearinthe Issues and Crisis Category for #WeAreTogether at the PR Week UK Global Awards 2022.

The aim of the campaign was to reassure international students, who may have been isolated due to lockdown, that they weren't alone and signpost them to support services. It also highlighted to prospectivestudentslivingabroadthat UKuniversitieshadmadesufficientprovisionaroundhygiene and health and safety.

The company managed #WeAreTogether on behalf of UK universities, across Instagram, Facebook and university websites. Universities invited internationalstudentstouploadtheir own videos to Instagram with the hashtag #WeAreTogether and explain their experiences of studying on campus. Vloggers were able to outline how their individual universities hadrespondedtothepandemicwithhealthandsafety,online learning and mental health support being highlighted. In the first three months of the campaign, seven million people had viewed it.

Two-thirds of prospective international students surveyed said they felt more confident to continue with their plans to study in the UK after engaging with it.

Carl Hewitt, co-founder and CEO, said: ‘We're so proud tohavewonthePRWeekaward for this important campaign.’

Reece Matthews, co-founder and COO, added: ‘It's always great to see a campaign gaining momentum with a target audience.’