Background
AptEd is a national awarding organisation, regulated by Ofqual and the Welsh Government to develop and offer national qualifications on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). The AptEd diverse qualifications portfolio covers a wide range of skills areas and sectors and is offered by a variety of providers including schools, colleges, private training providers and voluntary organisations.
Challenge
The Board at AptEd wanted to understand the extent of brand awareness that existed within their main client providers (HE colleges and private training providers) and the level of knowledge that the key contacts within those organisation had of AptEd and its service offerings. They also wanted to know more about the process these contacts followed when they were deciding which qualifications to offer and how AptEd measured up to their expectations.
Solution
Due to the level of understanding that the client required, we devised a semi qualitatitive interview which gave the client the depth of understanding about the reasons for decisions and also gave them some scorings and rankings for key performance criteria. These interviews were then held as face to face depths throughout the South West having been booked over the telephone based on a contact list provided by the client.
Outcome
As a result of this work, the client had a clearer picture of how they compared against key competitors and provided them with some key direction on the priorities that they needed to take to improve on those aspects of their service that the client organisations felt were important. Budget was therefore allocated on this basis and the feedback about what the clients valued about AptEd could be used in marketing communication materials.
