Lyndsay Shead, the new head of marketing at the Campaign for Learning,
is this week seeing the fifth and final PR agency pitch for the job of
turning the UK into a ‘learning society’ by the year 2000.
Shead, who joined the Campaign for Learning in September, said she
hopes to make an appointment next week. The organisation is currently
behind schedule in its PR plans. It told PR Week last April that it
intended to hold a pitch in May with a view to launching a campaign in
September.
Shead said PR would be a ‘major strand’ in her marketing strategy,
although the budget has yet to be agreed. ‘We have done a lot of work
with the trade and the plan now is to take the campaign to the
consumer,’ she said.
However, she added that it would be ‘premature’ to say what her PR plans
were. ‘If the last agency I’m seeing comes up with a strategy that
knocks my socks off then everything could change,’ she said.
The Campaign for Learning is backed by the Royal Society for Arts and
boasts a high-powered steering committee, including ex-Lever Brothers
chief executive Andrew Seth.
It aims to stimulate more interest in learning among consumers,
educators and commerce. Its corporate sponsors include Sainsbury, the
Bank of England, British Airways, BT, The Post Office, Rover Group, Tate
and Lyle, EMI and Unilever. Over 200 education and training providers
have also pledged their support.
Shead was formerly head of marketing at Historic Royal Palaces, which
promotes landmark sites such as the Tower of London, Hampton Court
Palace, Kensington Palace and the Banqueting House at Whitehall.
