Homegrown talent leads new UCLan creative campaign
A 100-strong team of homegrown creative talent is today eagerly awaiting the launch of the University of Central Lancashire’s (UCLan) new cinema advert.
The inspiring and uplifting 30 second video is the latest production of the We See YOU creative, developed for the University’s 2023 student recruitment campaign in collaboration with purpose-driven marketing agency Eleven Marketing & Communications Ltd.
The advert is also the first to incorporate the University’s new brand identity which was launched in September 2020.
Describing how the We See YOU concept was developed Heather Ellis, Director for Marketing, said: “Universities tend to place the focus on themselves and why they are the right choice for students, rather than placing the student at the centre of the campaign. We See YOU does the very opposite by focusing on the theme of potential and echoing the University’s commitment to supporting each student in reaching their full potential.
“The whole concept is about the real-life experience of the individual, including academic growth and the idea that they’ll be supported on their journey by us, whatever they want to achieve.”
The development of the University’s new cinema advert is a perfect demonstration of We See YOU in practice, showcasing the hands-on, practical experience that help UCLan students become work-ready graduates.
Heather added: “We were determined to bring our vision to life by calling upon our own talent pool, not only UCLan staff and students but our alumni and even partner college students at Preston College who supported us with their hair and make-up talents on the days of the shoot.”
In addition to general University lifestyle and student experience shots, a wide range of subjects have been filmed as part of the campaign. These include: business, psychology, optometry, midwifery, journalism, biology, law, sports coaching, physics, philosophy, engineering and fine art.
Jane Read, Head of Client Services at Eleven, added: “We wanted to create a campaign concept and messaging framework that was flexible enough to adapt for undergraduate, postgraduate and international audiences, and also for students at different stages of the recruitment process. We see YOU contains a simple message that’s both memorable and consistent.
“We worked alongside the University to bring the concept to life, creating a campaign toolkit which demonstrated how the new concept could be applied to a range of different collateral. We enjoyed a really close collaboration with the UCLan team, acting very much as an extension of their internal resource, and feel that this has helped to ensure a great end result.”
The music track to accompany the cinema advert was commissioned with Manchester-based Gas Music and was composed by UCLan Music Production Alumni Greg Owens.
The 30 second advert is launching across DCM cinemas in the North-West on Friday 6 May ready for summer blockbusters such as Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and the Secrets of Dumbledore. Additional video content is planned across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other online video display channels.
Final results from the new creative won’t be expected until later this year, but the overall campaign objectives are focused on attracting potential students, increasing student applications from both home and abroad whilst raising the profile of the University.
Watch the new campaign cinema advert here. A ‘behind the scenes’ video has also been created here.