In August 2025, I was hired by Uber and UNiDAYS (through the student marketing agency Campus Group) to write promotional newspapers aimed at first-year university students in Birmingham.

Conceived with the aim of advertising the student deals run by both brands, these newspapers take the form of a beginners guide to Birmingham, including where to shop, where to eat and where to hang out, with several calls-to-action spread throughout the copy.

My aims on this project were to:

• Write from the perspective of Uber and UNiDAYS in a way that felt consistent with their brand. This involved writing with a friendly and informative tone of voice that felt youthful but not too reliant on slang. I also wanted to write with empowering and inclusive language to appeal to new students who might be feeling nervous in a new city.

• Conduct in-depth research about Birmingham so that my recommendations felt authentic. I’m not a Birmingham native, so this part of the project was particularly important. I conducted several student interviews to gain as much insider knowledge as possible, and spent a lot of time curating accurate and relevant recommendations.

• Integrate calls-to-action in a way that felt natural. The client wanted to advertise several deals and services in a relatively small space, including deals on ride sharing, groceries and food delivery, so it was important to make sure the copy didn’t feel over-stuffed with sales speak. I wanted the newspapers to advertise the services properly, but also to feel informative and useful in their own right.
  

• Make changes to the copy where necessary, in line with the client’s feedback.

• Deliver the copy promptly, with enough time for the newspapers to go to print before the Birmingham freshers fairs in September 2025.