Aston University

UNIVERSITY WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN

This work disrupted the sector and powered up Aston University’s marketing. Working together, we redefined their student proposition and delivered a standout brand built around employability, added value and a transformational student experience.

Brief

Create a vibrant new student recruitment brand that smashes the traditional way of doing things and communicates a very different offer to make everyone see Aston differently.

In collaboration with Future Index and the University’s marketing team, we co-created a dynamic new brand narrative. We developed a student value proposition to set Aston apart. We created a vibrant new, student-focused identity that flexes across different campaigns, channels, audiences and offers.

We started by working with key stakeholders to gain a deeper understanding of Aston, their students, their evolving offer and ambitious strategy for the future. We identified how they wanted to be seen by the world. And we saw a big opportunity.

Aston has always had a strong focus on industry-embedded learning. They offer Triple Gold Teaching, an Adobe Creative Campus, the Aston Global Advantage and so much more. They’ve also launched new sector-leading initiatives like Aston Power Skills and Guaranteed Internships for all Postgraduate students that add real value to their student experience. Put everything together and their offer is very different. In fact – ‘University will never be the same again’. With this bold vision in place, we set about bringing it to life with a range of campaigns and activations that use strong messages and striking new student imagery to deliver a big impact:

Clearing: Bring it on – starring real students and their stories, this incredibly positive Clearing campaign inspired students from all backgrounds to choose Aston.

Break on Through – this impactful undergraduate campaign uses powerful headlines and cool images of students taken on campus and across Birmingham to capture the spirit of Aston. It encourages students to leap barriers, break on through and achieve their career ambitions with Aston’s support and industry-embedded learning.

Aston Power Skills/University will never be the same again – the launch of Aston Power Skills was the ideal moment to push out the wider brand message and shout about their new offer and transformational student experience. The campaign took over the streets of Birmingham, teasing people with mysterious triangles before the animated digital posters revealed the meaning behind them. Lots of fantastic activations and giveaways created a buzz on campus, while a new series of films really packed a punch. They combined fast-paced motion graphics with bold messaging that had plenty of attitude to quickly get across what Aston Power Skills are all about and tell the world why ‘University will never be the same again.’ This real team effort also saw Aston use the new brand style for their UCAS stand, website, lanyard prospectus and more.

It’s too early to assess the impact of this bold new brand, but it’s certainly created a stir on campus and made people across the sector sit up and take notice.

“Aston has ambitious and truly distinctive institutional strategy, laying the foundations for our incredible offer to students. Thank you Waterfall for your amazing work on this. Your creativity, flexibility and ability to work at pace makes you a valued partner!”

Charlotte Renwick, Director of Marketing, Communications and Student Recruitment, Aston University