Case study:
How we helped The Bartlett, UCL’s world-leading Faculty of the Built Environment, find new ways of telling research stories
Within 12 months, the articles we’ve written have been read more than 20,000 times. The most popular stories now have an average view time of over 20 minutes. So more people are reading – and they’re sticking around for longer, too.
By any standard, the reinvention of The Bartlett Review as a digital magazine showcasing UCL’s thought leadership on the built environment has been a success.
So, how did we do it?
When we published everything all at once, we were creating noise for ourselves, really – 20 or 30 stories, all at once.
Liz Griffith, Head of Marketing and Communications, The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment
Reimagining a distinguished publication for the digital age
The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment has been ranked #1 in the world for Architecture and Built Environment studies by QS for the past two years.
With a strong focus on sustainability and the impact of the built environment on people and the planet, the 13 departments of The Bartlett explore everything from architecture and urban design to government energy policy.
In 2023, Head of Marketing and Communications Liz Griffith contacted All Things Words to talk about their plan for a more modern approach to The Bartlett Review, the faculty’s prestigious annual publication.
“When we published everything all at once, we were creating noise for ourselves, really – 20 or 30 stories, all at once”, said Liz.
“We realised there was an opportunity to tell the world about our research and activities in a way that’s understandable and engaging and more accessible to people.
“We wanted to evolve our storytelling approach, looking at The Bartlett Review as a thought leadership channel to allow the world to see what we do.”
Obviously, we jumped at the opportunity to communicate some of the world’s most influential research, and getting to interview experts like Adriana Allen, Steve Pye, Joana Dabaj and John Tomaney.
Armed with a (slightly daunting) reading list, we set up the calls and dived in.
I feel like All Things Words has stepped in like a member of our team.
Liz Griffith, Head of Marketing and Communications, The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment
Bringing research to life
Flexible narrative structures, a range of storytelling approaches and a relentless focus on real-world impact has helped us meet The Bartlett’s need to show the world its dazzling variety of research.
“All Things Words have been able to bring out the people behind the stories – who they are, their perspectives. They’ve brought them to the fore, so we can hear their tone of voice. Hearing directly from them makes it more engaging.
“We’re representing a really diverse range of work from all these different people in all these different academic disciplines. Some of them are quite technical, some of them are very socially focused. We’ve managed to keep a consistency across all of that, which is great.”
Liz also appreciates our hands-on project management approach.
“I’ve been able to just put the writers in touch with the academics, and then they’ve been able to coordinate directly with them.
“I feel like All Things Words has stepped in like a member of our team in a way. I don’t need to be involved every step of the way.
“I’ve really appreciated that, because I haven’t had to be hand holding the process.”
Wider audiences, greater impact
The monthly stories published through The Bartlett Review have garnered enthusiastic responses from both internal and external audiences.
“We’ve had much higher engagement than in the previous annual editions. Giving the audience a drip feed throughout the year has helped increase engagement.
“Also the fact that the stories can be interesting and accessible to anyone interested in the built environment – they’re not dry academic pieces, and I think that’s helped to boost engagement.
“The average read time is really high as well. Our top performing story of the year, ’A digital future for spatial planning’, has got a 22-minute average read time, which is just phenomenal. You would expect it to be more like two to five minutes.
“Every time we promote it on social media, it just attracts lots of comments, lots of engagement.”
We asked Liz to name her favourite story so far.
“I think the Islington social housing story was brilliant. It’s one of the highest-read pieces. As soon as I put it on LinkedIn, it had about 1,000 views overnight. It’s obviously tapping into what people are interested in, it’s timely and relevant for the audience.
“It was basically a story about data…which could have been extremely dry, but All Things Words really brought it to life and made it something that was very engaging. And now it’s one of the most viewed stories.”
Every time we promote it on social media, it just attracts lots of comments, lots of engagement.
Liz Griffith, Head of Marketing and Communications, The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment
