Students have been given an exciting opportunity to develop their talents through a new partnership between Reading Buses and Reading College.

For the target of Reading Buses is to attract more under 19’s to use the bus now and in the future.

After three years of operating their Solo scheme for under 19s bus travel, Reading Buses is looking for a sensational re-brand which takes the scheme forward for the next two or three years.

And the students are helping the bus operator to inform how new branding should move forward to meet the criteria.

Said Jake Osman, Reading Buses Marketing and Communications Manager:  “Since the introduction of Solo we have experienced a huge growth in young people travelling on our buses. 

“Removing the need for younger people to prove that they were eligible for a reduced rate saw huge growth in this market for us as more under 19s began using the bus.

“At the same time as awareness and use has grown, so has relations between under 19’s and our drivers improved so much without the requirement for ID verification.

“Now, we feel the time is right to launch the next phase in our under 19s bus ticket/smartcard which allows young people to travel at a reduced rate without the need to show ID.

“With this concept we are not only building a stronger partnership with Reading College, but giving students a fantastic opportunity to develop their skills as well as us gaining insight into the target market.

“This project is the opportunity for them to come up with a whole new creative concept for under 19s bus travel, encapsulating a new name, logo, look and feel and even some imagery and then work with our award-winning design agency to develop that concept into something for the real world.

“We want that big idea that captures the imagination of the target audience and also reinforces that it is just for under 19s.”

He said the brief to students was to provide a concept name to take over from Solo; a logo; an A4 portrait poster; imagery that can be used as part of the campaign or independent of it; smartcard design; use of the scheme.

Added Jake:  “We are now at the point where we have a ‘winning’ team and idea and are working closely with the college on the rebrand – we are excited to take this idea forward.”
 
Said Alex Warner, Director of Curriculum at Reading College:  “Co-creating curriculum with Reading Buses has been fantastic for the college and its learners. 

“Business students have been given an opportunity to work on a ‘live’ Marketing brief, essentially bringing their curriculum to life. The shortlisted finalists were given the opportunity to present their concept ideas and marketing campaigns to Martijn Gilbert and his senior team along with Ray Stenning of Best Impressions in an ‘The Apprentice’ style showcase. 

“Such exposure has been an unrivalled learning opportunity and one that will stay with the learners throughout their long and successful business careers. The winning team will get to work with Ray and see their ideas come to life. 

“It is not every day that learners will get such opportunity. The college pride themselves on developing industry-relevant curriculum and this is another fantastic example working with an industry-leading local business.”