Winchester’s new marketing team working with WAXsii, for the first time, tackled the challenge of reversing the stagnation in the number of postgraduate applications. Our aim was to increase the number of applications by 20%, resulting in a 5% increase in offers.
Playing with ideas
The creative spark came from looking through a paper cone (something we don’t practice on a daily basis!). Through one end your view of the world is very narrow, but turn the cone the other way around and a bigger more complex picture is revealed. We translated this observation with visually challenging graphics. Viewed up close each image appears to be simply a pattern of dots, but stand back and the viewer was confronted with a provocative picture. The video continues the theme and tells a story from both sides of the barricade.
Playing with media
Media was chosen to meet the dual aims of reaching the target market by geodemographic profile, and providing sufficient dwell time to allow the viewer to interact with the creative. To attract commuters, poster sites on and around mainline railway stations were chosen, together with in-train poster squares. Radio was used tactically – on-air around drive-time- to boost attendance at open evenings.
We chose to use animation to boost the emotional dimension of the campaign, published on the University’s Facebook page and YouTube channel it hit over 40,000 views.
I’ve just seen the figures for our 2016 masters applications. I have no doubt this is directly linked to the campaign – excellent work! Definitely one to enter for future awards!Sam Jones - Director of Communications and Marketing, University of Winchester
The University of Winchester encouraged their target audience to ‘Find the big picture in the fine detail’ in a brave, rigorously executed and highly engaging campaign. This strong and unique initiative achieved exceptional results for the costs invested.HEIST Judges' Comment
