What was the situation?
Graduate Futures was an LJMU programme built to connect students and graduates with Liverpool City Region SMEs. The idea was a good one: help local employers find decent talent, and help graduates realise that building a career in Liverpool was a legitimate option - not a consolation prize for not making it somewhere else.
The opportunity was real. The problem was that not enough of the right people knew about it.
Where did The Nice Exchange come in?
After a competitive tender, The Nice Exchange was brought in on a 10-month retained contract to handle digital marketing and strategic support alongside the LJMU project team.
The scheme had genuine substance. It just needed more people to see it, understand it and trust it enough to get involved.
What did The Nice Exchange do?
We did not treat this as a content job. It was an awareness and engagement challenge with multiple audiences, real moving parts and a lot of value at stake.
Our role covered the full mix - organic and paid social, email, editorial, video, photography, design and event support. But the bit that made the difference was proximity. I sat on the steering board, which meant we were not just producing assets from the outside. We were close enough to shape direction, spot what was working and make sure the marketing stayed connected to what the project was actually trying to do.
What impact did we have?
Graduate Futures created more than 200 graduate-level posts and engaged around 2,000 students over the life of the programme. It also won Liverpool Chamber's Skills Provider of the Year award.
We are not taking credit for that. It was a strong scheme, run by a strong team. But we did help make it more visible, more joined up and easier for the right people to engage with - and that was the job.
In reflection.
Good projects do not always struggle because the idea is wrong. They struggle because not enough people understand what is on offer, or why it is worth their time.