This is how we built a university brand around the power of people coming together. Working collaboratively with the University of Salford and their students and partners, we turned a new proposition into a distinctive brand built around the strength of their community – then brought it to life through a student-led Open Day campaign.

Brief

Tell Salford’s collective story in a clear, confident and human way. No empty promises, jargon, superlatives or overused sector clichés. We set out to capture the true spirit of Salford. A diverse community where people support each other, move forward together and achieve things they could never do alone.

Solution

We turned the proposition into a brand toolkit built around a powerful new narrative, three writing principles and a distinctive tone of voice. Together we also:
• Flipped the narrative from university messages to collective community storytelling with authentic student voices and real stories to evidence The Power of [US].
• Created a manifesto rallying cry for their community to get behind and a practical ‘how to guide’ to help everyone bring the brand essence to life.
• Made the [brackets] a distinctive part of the brand language, framing people, words and ideas to visually express togetherness and collective power.

To launch the new brand to prospective students, we created a multi-channel Open Day campaign with Salford’s students at its heart. Across a two-day shoot, we photographed and filmed 18 students, asking them to talk openly about Salford, their experiences and why prospective students should come and see it for themselves.

Their words became the campaign. We turned the strongest soundbites into a hero film, audio and podcast adverts, while the photography and new messaging powered social, digital and outdoor creative across the local area and Trafford Centre. The campaign extended into Blings personalised video emails while Salford’s social team captured student voices and behind-the-scenes content at the shoot to give the campaign another layer of authenticity. A campaign about collaboration, created collaboratively. The Power of [US] in action.

Results

The Open Day campaign has only just gone live. So, come back soon and we’ll update you on how it’s performed.

“Waterfall have been a great partner to work with on this campaign. They bring real creativity and fresh thinking to the work, alongside a highly effective project management team who have kept everything moving smoothly from start to finish. Their understanding of the higher education sector, our brand proposition and the University of Salford has meant they’ve really understood what we wanted to achieve and translated it into an impactful, student-focused campaign. The creative outputs have been excellent, with the campaign brought to life cohesively across multiple channels. They’ve been collaborative, knowledgeable and committed throughout, and have felt like a real extension of our team.”

Andrea McDermott, Brand and Campaign Manager, The University of Salford