Prospects Graduate

1. Prospects Graduate Allan Brown Feb 2006

2. Agenda • Graduate Prospects • Prospects Today the challenges • Graduate the story so far • The benefits

3. Graduate Prospects • Graduate Prospects (GP) is the official provider of Information, Advice, Guidance and opportunities for UK students and graduates. • GP is the commercial subsidiary of an educational charity and is primarily a publishers of career products. • We produce advertisement funded magazines, directories, guides and electronic products including prospects.ac.uk, the biggest graduate careers web site in the UK. • All of our products are profitable.

4. Prospects Today • Prospects Today (PT) was a very successful jobs magazine aimed at new and recent graduates. • It had a successful and profitable 30 year history, at one point delivering over £3m of advertising income per year. • Core distribution (which peaked at 35,000 per week) was through all UK University Careers Services. Both via on site distribution and via the careers services staff posting it on to their graduates with their own careers material.

5. Prospects Today cont... • Increased use of the internet for job hunting pushed revenue online, this added to changes in market conditions since the peak in 2001 reduced revenues by over 75%. • The increased use of e-mail by careers services for distribution their own material reduced our distribution by more than 60%. • These two challenges meant we needed to change.

6. Our Options • The options available were numerous, they included • Posting PT directly to readers - Limitations, cost & transient nature of job hunter audience. • Moving to retail sales model - Limitations, too risky & cost. • Closing and moving online - Limitations, average order values online were only 30% of PT’s • Develop an alternative product and distribution…….

7. Our Options • We decided on the development of a digital magazine. • We considered… • downloadable readers (Zinio) - Limitation, too restrictive, requires complex downloads. • PDF distribution - Limitation, reader reluctance to scroll & email sizes would be too big or downloads too long. • We settled on live digital editions and considered a number of technology providers. • We chose NXTBook Technology via Digital Alternatives

8. NXTBook & Digital Alternatives • This become our preferred technology because it offered… • High quality page rendering • Quick download speeds • Intuitive user interface • Flexible user options (print, save, send) • Good cost structure • Compressed files • Digital Alternatives also offered a compelling package including… • Supportive team • Flexible approach • A partnership

9. The Birth of Graduate • We made the decision very early to move completely to a digital format. This included closing a product with a 30 year history. • We reduced the rate card by 25% to take account of the lower average rates on the web (full page £2,700 down to £2,000). • We committed to continue with the fortnightly distribution. • Prospects Graduate was born 2 weeks after the final edition of Prospects Today - 28/08/05.

10. The sales Graduate pitch • It offers creative options unavailable with a paper product. • It offers branding opportunities to advertisers in a format which engages readers. • It allows us to push adverts to potential candidates whilst the internet is primarily driven by search. • Candidates can interact with advertisements, and click directly through to advertiser sites accessing more information or applications. • It offers the impact and engagement of paper with the measurability of the web.

11. Results so far • Distribution is now secure and within our control. • Distribution has increased by 100% compared to recent editions of Prospects Today and is stable. • Revenue is exceeding that of Prospects Today on an issue by issue basis, despite the lower rate card. • 25% of readers come back to the same issue to view again. • We are carrying more advertisers and adverts than comparable issues of Prospects Today • We have a product we are all proud of which has created a real buzz in the market

12. Final Analysis • Prospects Graduate has reduced our costs • It has increased our income • It has increased our distribution • It delivers users to our main site • Advertisers are pleased with results • It is high profile and has engaged the market • It is very profitable

13. Testimonials I needed to recruit two Graduate level Fraud analysts and opted to advertise in the Prospects Graduate magazine. The response to this advertisement exceeded my expectations, we received 92 high quality applications - 88 by email and 4 by post. 10 were invited for interview, out of those interviewed we found 2 ideal candidates. Thank you to Graduate Prospects and their team of staff for helping me to select the most effective medium to advertise my vacancies, the Prospects Graduate magazine. If the need arises again I would not hesitate to contact GP. Louise Marks, Human Resources Specialist, ACI Worldwide (EMEA) Limited "I have booked no less than four adverts into Prospects Graduate on behalf of my clients since its launch and have found it extremely effective at targeting graduates. The digital medium gives us access to new creative ideas and executions and links in well with our clients' online activity. Prospects Graduate is now an integral part of our media schedules for graduate and second jobber campaigns." Scott McGougan, Account Director, McCann Erickson Emap Retail has found Prospects Graduate to be an excellent medium, in which to advertise our annual Careers In Retail event. The digimag has without a doubt, caught the imagination of its audience and helped make Careers in Retail stand out against its competitors. The use of the Flash animated advert, really lifts the message off the screen creating a lasting impression on the target audience. We will definitely not hesitate to use the Prospects digital magazine, for Careers in Retail's 2006 campaign. Merissa Patrick, Senior Marketing Executive "At EF English First we offer an alternative experience for graduates. An opportunity to teach abroad. Online Graduate recruitment was too segmented with graduates searching for mainstream employment opportunities relating to their studies. Prospects Graduate allows us to reach a broader Graduate Market Segment and poach graduates from any discipline for our training programs and employment overseas." • Geoff Andrews, TRT Marketing Manager, EF English First

14. Prospects Graduate Allan Brown Feb 2006