Our work Data-Driven Entrepreneurship (DDE)
The University of Edinburgh’s Data-Driven Entrepreneurship (DDE) programme is delivered by Edinburgh Innovations, working with the University’s Data-Driven Innovation Hubs to deliver the DDE programme.
With £1.3 million funding from the Scottish Funding Council, via the Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) programme, the DDE Programme is designed to drive entrepreneurship among staff and students at the University by supporting them to develop their business ideas, build their skills and secure funding.
Ambition
Four Marketing Agency was appointed by Edinburgh Innovations’ DDE programme to run a 6-week campaign to generate awareness around its entrepreneur incubator initiative, the Venture Builder incubator.
The Venture Builder Incubator is designed to help fledgling entrepreneurs build their skills and take their businesses to the next level. 20 innovative start-ups were selected for the University of Edinburgh incubator programme aimed at developing and commercialising academic entrepreneurship and we were appointed to promote this.
Our objective was to ultimately attract PHD students to join the programme, which would in turn enable them to turn their research projects into business opportunities.
Action
Four developed a strategic communications campaign, leveraging the 20 innovative start-ups that had been selected for the DDE programme to generate further awareness and interest within specific business, Scottish and academic audiences.
Result
During the 6-week campaign, Four Marketing Agency achieved 21 pieces of online and print coverage, resulting in more than 6 million opportunities to view the content. Notable publications included: The Scotsman, Edinburgh Evening News, Scottish Business Insider, Scottish Financial News, The North Edinburgh News, Scottish Business News, FE News, and Student Pocket Guide. With the success of this campaign, Four were retained by Edinburgh University to continue providing PR and communications services for Edinburgh Innovations.
Client feedbackDon’t just take it from us! Fiona Melling, DDE Programme Marketing and Communications Executive, had to say.
Four Marketing Agency have been a brilliant addition to our comms work, always taking the time to understand our needs and (complicated) audiences with positive results on PR engagement. Their attention to detail and reliability continue to exceed expectations. The team we work with at Four PR consistently provide an incredibly professional service backed up by a thorough understanding of our marketplace and needs, core competencies, and are helpfully always available with a good dose of friendly advice. All of which makes the Four PR team fantastic to work with. They just make it easy to work with them! I could not recommend them more.