Leeds Business School partners with Castle Howard and Flamingo Land

Both organisations made presentations outlining the current challenges they face and detailed their respective target audiences.

Gaynor Cross, senior lecturer in marketing at Leeds Beckett University said: “I was delighted to involve Castle Howard and Flamingo Land to present an overview of their organisations.

"The opportunity for students to work on live briefs is extremely valuable – for their assessment but also to prepare them for responding to live marketing briefs when they are doing these roles in their future marketing careers.

“Students are also able to develop valuable employability skills from experiences such-as this, including meeting deadlines, communicating effectively and working with others as well creating a well thought out and justified digital marketing plan.”

Students were asked to make plans that would appeal to key target audiences, including community groups, previous visitors, and overseas visitors.

The brief also asked students to come up with a selection of tactics and relevant messages that would resonate with those target audiences, while taking into consideration the current challenges faced by visitor attractions.

Students on the programme were asked to consider how a decline in overseas visitors, the cost-of-living crisis, and the aftermath of Covid has been challenging for the sector overall.

Organisers noted that the approach had also proven beneficial for the organisations, with insights and feedback from the group of 58 students who have taken part.