Oxfordshire students celebrate National Storytelling Week with Fortitude Communications

Fortitude Communications delivered two interactive workshops at Abingdon and Witney College's campuses for 25 students providing insights into careers in PR, media, social media, photography, design and marketing.

The sessions were led by Fortitude’s Creative Marketing Executive, Rosie Teal-Hunt who joined the agency in 2023 after graduating from Oxford Brookes University. Rosie shared her successful career journey with the students and advice on careers in marketing before leading engaging workshops.

The students were split into groups and tasked with creating their own storytelling and marketing campaigns to meet five hypothetical briefs for a selection of global brands.

They considered how they could use storytelling to enhance brand exposure and engagement via current trends, event activations, digital tools and community engagement before presenting their campaigns.

With the average person exposed to at least 5,000 brand messages each day, the requirement for strategically considered storytelling across all forms of content creation is becoming increasingly important.

Kevin Howick, Curriculum Manager for Creative Industries at Abingdon and Witney College, said: “It was invaluable for our students to learn first-hand what is involved in delivering marketing campaigns and the careers available in the professional storytelling sector following their studies.

“Rosie’s experience is inspirational and it’s clear that with talent, passion and hard work there are plenty of opportunities in marketing and PR.

“The sessions brought National Storytelling Week to life for the students, they learned so much and the creativity within the groups was fantastic.

“A big thank you to Rosie and the team at Fortitude for giving up their time to deliver both sessions, having local businesses that are committed to giving back and supporting students makes such a difference to college life.”

Rosie Teal-Hunt Hunt said: “I’m fortunate Fortitude gave me an opportunity to establish my creative marketing career and represent some fantastic clients and it’s rewarding to give back to students in our community.

“Storytelling is incredibly powerful and has a real impact for businesses and charities and there’s so many exciting opportunities in the marketing and communications space for

ambitious creatives. It was a successful day and the quality of the work the students produced was excellent.”

Based on ARC Oxford in Cowley, Fortitude Communications was founded in 2017 by former Oxford United managing director and Mirror journalist Greig Box Turnbull.

The company specialises in helping businesses communicate effectively via PR, content creation, photography, video, social media and marketing with clients including Six By Nico, Oxford Bus Company and Arena Racing Company.

Greig added: “This year we wanted to do something meaningful as an agency to celebrate National Storytelling Week and educating the next generation felt perfect.

“We’re passionate about storytelling and helping businesses raise their profiles and engage their audiences via quality content. Aligned to this we care about giving back to our community and it was fantastic to see how much benefit the students gained from the activities.”