How do you build on a campaign that smashed its targets? The first wave of Do Things Differently grew registrations from US students by 28%. For wave two, our challenge wasn’t to start again. It was to build on that momentum. To take the campaign further. To tell authentic student stories. To give US students even more reasons to see Manchester differently.

Brief

Wave one had established a bold new approach to recruiting students from the US.
A distinctive campaign narrative. Striking photography across Manchester. Quotes from American students who had already made the leap. It worked well. But now we aimed to go deeper and move beyond student quotes and photography to videos that told authentic student stories. Why Manchester? Why travel thousands of miles to study here? Hearing the answers from students who’d already done it would inspire others to do things differently too.

Solution

We sense-checked the TOV and broader hero messaging to make sure it reflected the themes and language of the University’s new 2030 strategy. It couldn’t have fitted better with our bold narrative and strategy of putting eight US students at the heart of the next chapter.

Collaborating with students from different cities and courses (UG & PG) we captured them talking in meaningful places where their personal stories were happening. They reflected on why they chose Manchester and their experiences of learning and living there. This involved planning and managing an extensive shoot with Manchester’s talented in-house video team in locations on campus and across the city, from Manchester Museum and the Whitworth Art Gallery to John Rylands Library and Old Trafford.

To set these videos apart from traditional student recruitment campaigns, we did things differently ourselves. We created a vibrant video style by adding colourful type, bespoke illustrations and pullout quotes. Together we created a broad suite of digital content to target potential students across the US, including emails, web content, digital banners and statics, GIFs, carousels and 6 and 15-second videos for socials. We created one campaign with eight voices that gave students many different reasons to choose Manchester.

Results

“Working with the Waterfall team felt like a true creative partnership. They were friendly, available, and consistently communicative, bringing fresh ideas throughout and stepping in seamlessly whenever last‑minute challenges arose. Their investment in both the campaign and the students we worked with was clear from day one. The final creative was exceptionally strong and played a huge role in elevating our second‑wave campaign. They’re a highly capable, thoughtful team – and genuinely lovely to work with.”

Harry Newton, Marketing and Recruitment Officer, The University of Manchester