STUDENTS from two Bradford schools have been working with local bus operator First to design a marketing campaign to get more youngsters using buses.

Sixth-form students at Hanson School, in Swain House, and Parkside School in Cullingworth were challenged to create a campaign to get bus travel to appeal to teenagers, with the winning campaign being piloted on social media this summer.

First ran the competition in partnership with Ahead Partnership, as part of the FutureJobs programme, a fully-funded service from Aspire-igen, Leeds City Region LEP, and the European Social Fund.

Students attended workshops focusing on the perceptions of bus travel, marketing channels, and were able to review previous marketing campaigns.

They then worked on ideas before presenting their plans to a panel of representatives from First in a school final, with two team from each school chosen as qualifiers.

These groups then had eight weeks to hone their ideas, with help from First business coaches, who gave students a £30,000 budget for their campaign.

The final ideas were then pitched in a Dragon’s Den style format at City Hall to judges Oliver Howarth, First’s operations director, Councillor Sue Duffy, and Sharon Presley from West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

The winning team came from Parkside School, with their ‘Bus Winners’ campaign – which has the slogan 'Are you a bus w*n*er or a bus w*n*er?'

Each team member received shopping vouchers worth £100, and their campaign is being featured by First this summer.

Oliver Howarth said: “The amount of thought the finalists put into their proposals and presentations was really impressive and the whole competition has given a lot of young people an insight into life after school and college.

“At the same time the judges learned an enormous amount about social media! It has been a hugely worthwhile enterprise.”

Sharon Presley added: “West Yorkshire Combined Authority works closely with bus operators and local authorities as part of the Bus18 initiative to improve customer satisfaction and passenger experiences for bus users.

“One of our key Bus18 goals is to encourage more young people to use buses and I was delighted to see such fantastic ideas from these students.”

Kathryn McCarter, a Year 12 student from the winning Parkside School team, said: “From the First challenge we got an insight into a professional environment and what it would be like to work in marketing.

“As a group it helped us develop teamwork and individual skills such as confidence when presenting.”

Victoria Limbert, head of Sixth Form at Parkside School, said: “As a school we have been really impressed with the organisation provided by the Ahead Partnership, the time the volunteers from First Bus and the judges have given and our students.

“The final helped our students develop a professional presentation which was delivered in a confident manner - skills which have helped set them up for life after Year 13.”