Justin Wylie

Employer : Norwich Union
University : University of Portsmouth
Subject : international business studies

Career highlight

My first four-month placement on the graduate rotation scheme was in the brand team. I had to improve company brand awareness and understanding, throughout our claims department. It was a particularly challenging project as it involved communicating with a large number of employees and overcoming some scepticism associated with brand value.

The goal was to show how important employees dealing with claims were in upholding these values, as they deal directly with customers. I began by meeting with members of the claims division to discuss the best approach to use. I chose to use the internal communication system, as our usual method of running workshops was not realistic due to the number of employees involved.

I used the departmental magazine to get people interested and demonstrate how brand awareness was applicable to them. This entailed writing two articles and designing a brand-orientated competition that appeared in two of the bimonthly editions. I had to develop my writing skills to make sure I got the tone right for my target audience. It was important to choose brands that readers were familiar with, to illustrate what we were trying to achieve. The first article was an introduction to branding and the second discussed the company's three brand values. The competition had an ‘identify the brand' section with a tie breaker question: ‘If you were a famous brand, which would you be and why?'

Mission accomplished

The campaign was a real success and the number of competition entries I received was overwhelming! It was very satisfying to be involved in the project from beginning to end and see the results of my hard work. Working on the project helped me understand an important aspect of marketing that I had little knowledge of previously. I developed a range of skills from writing internal communications articles, pitched at specific audiences, to liaising and interacting with senior staff across different business sectors.