The first phase of this disruptive 3-year campaign was a big international success – increasing registrations from US students by 28%. Our next challenge? Grow the momentum and capture the imagination of even more American students.

Brief

For wave one, we’d used a bold brand narrative alongside authentic quotes and striking photography of students in locations across Manchester. This approach smashed all targets. But now we had the time to elevate the campaign with engaging video storytelling. We set out to share the stories of American students who chose to travel from the US to study at The University of Manchester.

Solution

We started by sense-checking the TOV and broader hero messaging to make sure it reflected the themes and language of the University’s new 2030 strategy. We then collaborated with 8 American students from different cities and courses (UG & PG) to capture and share their stories. We asked them about their motivations for studying thousands of miles away and brought their experiences of learning and living in Manchester to life, so future students could imagine themselves being here.

It was important for us to film the students talking in the places that were at the heart of their stories. This involved planning and managing an extensive shoot across the campus and Manchester with film locations including Manchester Museum, Whitworth Art Gallery, John Rylands Library and Old Trafford. This was a true collaboration with all the content filmed by Manchester’s own in-house video team.

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.

Results

Whilst we captured this fresh student content in late 2025, the wave one assets were served up across search and social platforms, exceeding expectations with:
• 14 million targeted impressions
• Ad engagement 43% stronger than predicted
• 112,700 more website visits than projected
• CPC 51% stronger than predicted
• 4,500 enquiry forms completed.

Then when the new wave two creative assets with student voices were introduced at the end of January 2026, the campaign soared to new heights with 29.5m targeted impressions, website visits exceeding projections by 305k, Meta, Snapchat and
Search exceeding engagement benchmarks and delivered a strong CTR and the results were 7.1k completed enquiry forms.

“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