Building your brand | UoB Elevate share tips during Marketing Day

UoB Elevate is a business growth programme for University of Birmingham students and graduates with 38 businesses occupying The Graham Turner Entrepreneurship Centre at The Exchange.

On 23 February, UoB Elevate held a Marketing Day giving founders the opportunity to be inspired, share ideas and create an open discussion about the importance of branding for start-ups.

Building a strong brand identity and developing effective marketing strategies are essential to the success of a start-up business. This event was designed to help founders to understand how important is to define the brand, understand the target audience, and create a comprehensive marketing plan to help increase company visibility, build reputation, and grow the customer base. 

The afternoon was split into mini speaker sessions including talks from Elevate founders Beadonay Kamal from XPG Media and Dan Bridgewater from Buckt. Attendees were also treated to a special appearance from UoB alumni entrepreneur Ben Reynolds, founder of Carousel Lights.

Beadonay Kamal founded digital marketing agency XPG Media in 2016 and joined the Elevate programme after graduating with a Masters in Marketing in 2020. 

The business offer marketing services and has an in-house video production team to help start-ups and SME's build their brand up.

Beadonay presented a session called Top Digital Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses: Insights into XPG Media designed to help small businesses succeed in the ever changing digital landscape.

Dan Bridgewater is an award winning entrepreneur, corporate governance practitioner and public speaker. 

Dan is the founder of Buckt which is the UK's only tickets & activities subscription
service. 

The business currently has around 8000 subscribers, operates in  Birmingham, London, Manchester and Liverpool and has over 1000 partners (including Merlin Entertainments Group, Revolution Bars, Odeon Cinema and more).

He is a recipient of the prestigious Points Of Light Award (chosen by the Prime Minister) and a winner of the Future Faces of Entrepreneurship Award. Additionally, Dan has sat on the multiple boards including the Birmingham LEP’s business committee, UpRising, RSA Academies and was a chair of governors at a Birmingham primary school. 

During the Marketing Day session, Dan shared tips on brand value and rebranding strategies after recently completing a rebrand journey with Buckt.

Our special guest speaker was alumni entrepreneur Ben Reynolds who shared tools on market positioning and a discussion about the power of storytelling should be a critical skill for start-up founders.

Ben is a multi award winning entrepreneur, a previous winner of the renowned Great British Entrepreneur Awards and a current judge for the GBEA and the National Start-Up awards. 

Ben is co-founder and owner of Carousel Lights, a British brand designing and supplying custom lighting and signage to some of the World’s most famous brands across the Film, Music, TV, Retail, Hospitality and Events sectors. 

Prior to founding Carousel Lights, Ben cut his teeth on the British Airways graduate programme for Commercial Leaders. He subsequently worked for BBC Studios as Head of Marketing, sitting on the senior leadership team, before deciding to leave the corporate World to set up and grow Carousel Lights with his sister.

He gained an MEng (Hons) from The University of Birmingham, with further executive education at The University of the Witwatersrand and the London Business School.

For more inspiration and tips, hear from Ben Reynolds in our latest Career Talk podcast.

Career Talk Podcast S1 E3: Expert Talk | Building your brand with Ben Reynolds

Through the success of their businesses, it is amazing to see these University of Birmingham entrepreneurs sharing advice with their fellow young adventurous entrepreneurs. 

Find out more about the UoB Elevate programme here including the 38 businesses who benefit from the programme.

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Photographs by Ana Madan
Podcast features Ben Reynolds, interviewed by Nicola Gittins

Added by Bob Lee