A-Level results day is the single most important date for any student or youth-focused brand, with competition for share of voice fierce. Our mission for 2024 was to cut through the noise and secure coverage for not one, but two clients - youth-led work and travel brand, JENZA, and the world’s largest student and youth travel marketplace, StudentUniverse – all with a view to boosting brand awareness for both.

Following extensive desk research, we could see that the number of UK school leavers applying to university has been falling and, thanks to the insights from experts at both brands, we knew the likely reason was a combination of the impact of political uncertainty, the cost-of-living crisis and, crucially, a desire to gain skills that would have an immediate positive impact on employability. An area our spokespersons were uniquely positioned to provide comment on.

Our plan: Pitch, pitch, pitch! Sometimes the best way, is the old-fashioned way. We knew we had valuable insights to share so we rolled up our sleeves, crafted impactful narratives from both brands and utilised our little black book of journalists to ensure our comments were top of mind, and inboxes, in the lead up to A-Level results day. No fancy tricks, just the basics of good PR.

The result: 55 pieces of national and regional coverage including The Telegraph, The Mirror, Manchester World and The Yorkshire Post, successfully positioning both brands as the work and travel experts to rely on for students, school leavers and their parents.