NCS experiences give 16 and 17 year olds in England the opportunity to see what they’re made of, grow their strengths and confidence, and get ready for the world. The experiences are: away from home (five days and four nights taking on challenges, meeting new people, learning life skills), local community (social action projects and volunteering to make a positive impact where they live), and online (free interactive workshops and content to get skilled from the comfort of their sofa).
The work.
I joined NCS on the first day of national COVID lockdown in 2020. Until that point, NCS had one offer; a four week residential experience. I was immediately tasked - alongside my team - with figuring out how to turn the residential offer into a completely online experience. This meant content content content! We went from 12 pieces of content a month to over 80, alongside continual streams of communications; I worked on almost 400 briefs over the first year, to keep a country of young people connected through one of the most disconnected times of their lives.
Over the next five years, I remained the sole copywriter of the company and was responsible for ensuring our TOV was consistent both externally and internally. Day to day work included: blog content and conception, creating TOV guidelines, introducing new products and platforms, updating brand guidelines, website and SEO optimisation, leading Writers’ Club, creating CRM journeys, newsletters and brochures, annual reports, social campaigns, and editorials.
The blog.
Blogs are a big part of engagement and the content does not shy away from reality for teens.
Topics range from political and cultural topics to social action and making a positive impact, friendships, relationships and sex, to advice, debates, interviews and fun quizzes. It was integral to stay on the pulse of what young people feel and think and create relevant think pieces. We also kept account of what our target audience would be going through on a yearly basis - school exams, finding new or first jobs, applying for college etc - and general things like elections and national holidays, and created blogs for those moments.
The content was designed to get people thinking, talking, and wanting to take part in NCS experiences.
There was also a focus on allowing young people to contribute to the blog too, in which case it was down to me to proof read, copy edit and generally shape them up into post-able content.
Click below to read example blogs:
MyNCS.
MyNCS was the online hub in which young people or their parents/guardians/carers could explore and sign up for our away from home experiences.
MyNCS was a mammoth project that ran over a number of years, finally launching in 2023. I was present from the start, creating initial copy, however in the run up to the launch and final copy iterations, I was on maternity leave. When I returned I had to go through all the copy again, for the final iteration, readjusting to be more in line with our TOV.
Approximately 50+ pages included: landing pages, account creation, experience information and descriptions, product pages, partner page descriptions, payment journeys and communications, FAQs and more.
Writers’ Club.
Co-founder and leader of the Writers’ Club, where, annually, I mentored ten young writers, led workshops and gave group, and one on one writing sessions. The idea was to help the young writers flourish, learn how to voice their thoughts, opinions and passions, and become confident in their writing skills.
I pitched different themes for the Club to write blogs on, gave constructive feedback and then their finished blogs were published on our website.
Blogs ranged from deep dives into culture and identity to movie reviews, poetry to hot topic debates, advice for other teens to personal pisces on topics like mental health, relationships and friendships.
At the end of each year the writers got a portfolio of all of their pieces complete with a data fact sheet.
The Club also led to me providing work experience for one promising writer, where she worked within our creative and social team and I acted as her line manager.
Click below for some examples of the Writers’ Club blogs:
“Grey has a real gift for speaking to our teen audience, feeling authentic and empowering but never patronising. It’s a balance that had been difficult to achieve prior to her arrival. She doesn’t just write great copy, she really thinks about how all the pieces interact to attract and ultimately convert customers.”