University’s close relationship with sports agency group pays off for James

A sport-mad student is the latest to benefit from the University of Northampton’s close relationship with a leading PR and digital sports agency group.

Final Third Sports Media, and its younger sister organisation the other half, are based at the University’s Avenue Campus, and boast a number of high-profile clients, including the English Football League and Professional Referee Organization in the USA.

The companies have enjoyed a close working relationship with the University, having taken on a number of students to carry out work placements and paid project work.

The latest undergraduate to benefit is second-year Multimedia Journalism student, James Anstee, who is completing a work experience placement over the summer with the other half, allowing him to be involved in a series of different PR-driven projects.

“The placement’s been a great opportunity for me,” said the 20-year-old from Northampton. “I’ve been working on a project for an international football academy which we’ve led a recent rebrand for.

“It was interesting looking into the various ways it could achieve its objectives with a new identity, by researching how other organisations in the sports industry have branded themselves.

“One day I would love to set up my own PR agency, so the experience I am picking up here with the other half is invaluable. I am getting to work within an agency that is still in its infancy and receiving an overview of how it’s being built up, and how the organisation works.

“Plus, the actual project work is really interesting, as the sports industry is something I am passionate about.”

James’s experiences on the Multimedia Journalism course have stood him in good stead for a career in sports PR.

He explained: “We have a news day each week on our course, and it’s all geared towards digital. We get to learn what makes a great story, and to take that journalistic know-how into the PR world should give me a competitive edge when I embark on my career.”

James isn’t the only University representative working at the sister agencies – the new Students’ Union president, Rafael Garcia-Krailing, was a marketing intern at Final Third.

Sports Marketing graduate, Ben Warren, spent more than two years with Final Third, initially as an intern, then staying on beyond his studies for a summer placement. The experience he picked up there, along with the skills developed on his degree course, helped him to land his dream job as Somerset County Cricket Club’s digital marketing executive in 2015.

Chris Rivett, managing director of both Final Third and the other half, said: “We’ve enjoyed an increasingly fruitful relationship with the University over the seven years we’ve been in its Portfolio Centre.

“In the last five years we’ve had several marketing and journalism students working closely with us on a regular basis and it has always been an enjoyable experience. It is satisfying seeing them progress their careers after University and put into practice some of the learnings from the lecture room and skills we’ve worked with them to develop in a working environment.”