Driving values-led student recruitment

University of Winchester – Undergraduate recruitment campaign

Values are at the heart of everything the University of Winchester does. Whilst providing a clear differentiation for the institution, they should also be a siren for like-minded potential students – those who are deeply passionate and inquisitive about the world around them, and the all life on the planet. The University’s values underpinned their new organisational proposition, “The University of Sustainability and Social Justice”.

After running an undergraduate recruitment campaign for two years, tied to their recent rebrand, Bell was briefed to produce a new campaign, to not only evolve it, but also to take it further, and make it deeper. They wanted something truly impactful, eye-catching and scalable, encompassing the University’s values and proposition, as relevant to all secondary influencer and internal audiences, as to potential undergraduate students.

We began by developing a campaign headline proposition, bold enough to be noticed in a crowded higher education marketplace by the right potential students, which was malleable enough to contain multiple meanings, to numerous people. Where futures matter. Not just the future of the student in question. Not only the future of the planet, its communities and environment. All futures. On an equal plane, without discrimination or demarcation, where all lives are equally important.

To deliver this key message, we designed an LED-Neon sign, 1.5m high, with alternating lights in the top and bottom boundary lines to match the University’s colour palette. The idea behind this sign was to make a visual impact and provide the spark to entice people into the stories that follow. Each image with the sign tells a story. A particular story of futures that matter. Our campaign provided the overarching theme for the 2022 Undergraduate Prospectus, which we designed key templates and handed over to the University’s in-house design team to produce. They employed the “Where Futures Matter” theme throughout the entire prospectus, website and other communications.

“Bell really does understand the University of Winchester and the Higher Education sector. They also have a very good understanding of the University of Winchester's values and the culture of the University.”

Florence Gallien, Head of Marketing