Last week saw the annual Brand Ambassador Awards 2016, hosted by On-Campus Promotions, which celebrated and recognised the successes and achievements of the top Brand Ambassadors that have represented different company brands on their university campuses throughout the academic year. This was a true inspiration in itself, to see what fantastic work with such innovation and creativity these students are doing, alongside a full time degree and often another part time job. But what's more, I was also invited to be a member of the judging panel for these awards. Each student that nominated themselves had to submit a short written piece showcasing their work, innovation, successes and reasons they should win, as well as some image/text evidence. Whittling the nominations down to the finalists must have been difficult in itself because the finalists for each category were all outstanding. What occurred to me is that this is even more evidence that contradicts whoever thinks that the majority of students still sleep in until midday and don't achieve very much during the daylight hours. On the contrary, this was hard evidence that there are many students that are juggling part time jobs, degrees, and more jobs. 

So what is a Brand Ambassador? Well, companies have realised that the best way to promote their brands is to do it 'on the ground' so to speak, on campus - by students, to students. Students know exactly where students go, what areas of campus they tend to frequent and where the most footfall is. Students are also more likely to listen to and engage with other students, and they know how to engage with each other. Make this into a part time job, paying more than your average bar job, that also provides excellent professional work experience that add to a student's CV, and hey presto - what you have is a fantastic opportunity for any student. Not every company uses On-Campus Promotions, some do it in house - but what really works here is that OCP provide support to the students, train and guide them, and set targets and tasks (having also engaged with the employer to check what they need)- as well as leaving them to use their own initiative and own their own projects. Just about every graduate competency box is ticked, and so it comes as no surprise that certainly the Brand Ambassadors I have met have great CVs and achieve placements and graduate roles. This year I took it a step further and pioneered supporting the Brand Ambassadors at Henley Business School, by introducing them all to each other, including their Brand and their role. We had networking lunches, shared ideas with what worked and what didn't work, and everyone benefitted - students, employers and us as a Careers team. We ticked those graduate competency boxes of teamwork and communication, through our collaborations. In turn what I noticed was that these students also did some CSR within Henley and really gave back to us by showing us how students engage best, and how they want to learn about brands and future employment opportunities. They also helped to spread the word about events we were organising, and encouraged their friends to come along and engage with us. 

I was delighted that we had three students from Henley nominated as Finalists for their categories, and we also had a winner! 

Sarah Young was a Finalist for the Gold Award Brand Manager for her role as Brand Manager for Rate My Placement.

Jessica Beard was a Finalist for Most Innovative Brand Manager for her role as Brand Manager for Aldi.

Will Murray was the Winner for Brand Manager Industry Focus on IT & Technology for his role as Brand Manager for Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Listening to students is invaluable in providing what they want - in business, you listen to your clients to hear what they want, you use the preferred communication mediums, in order to deliver what they need. From my experiences, listening to your students also helps to frame information and delivery in the most effective ways. Students speak to other students, and information and ideas travel fast. I realised that even by distributing flyers on campus and free merchandise, it's like planting seeds and pollination...you never know quite what journey the merchandise will take, or where it will end up. 

On-Campus Promotions, who hire these students as brand ambassadors, are part of RMP Enterprise - many employers, students and universities will know RateMyPlacement for it's website of valuable placement reviews, and well as being a fantastic resource of placement opportunities to apply for. Visiting the RMP Enterprise office was a treat in itself, the energy and passion inside their four walls was virtually tangible, and it was evident that their mission is to empower students help them find work experience, in order to embark on the graduate career of their dreams. So if you're a student reading this, it's worth investigating the opportunities that are available for doing Brand Ambassador Work, in order to enhance your CV. If you're an employer, Brand Ambassadors will get your name out on campus in the right way (and it has to be said, On-Campus Promotions do an awesome job at it). And if you're part of a University, collaborate with your Brand Ambassadors - they can pollinate your campus with employer messages, as well as your careers orientated messages!