Creative Strategy & Execution of ANU's 2022 Postgraduate Brand Campaign

Meet Challenge, Make Change with ANU

The Australian National University (ANU) partnered with Student Garden to develop a marketing and creative strategy tailored to its postgraduate programs. In light of the mass job exodus caused by a shift in mindset and the need to reskill, this campaign presented the ideal chance to take advantage of increasing demand.

Known for exceptional teaching and research facilities, our campaign leveraged the unique brand positioning of ANU to build awareness for its postgraduate offering and increase demand in the market.

Timeframe

2022

The job to be done.

We worked closely with ANU to develop a creative
approach that would:

1. Build brand awareness

2. Expose prospects to the brand story of ANU

3. Drive traffic to their website to create high-intent retargeting audiences

4. Increase overall brand alignment across all platforms

So, what did our creative team come up with?

ANU tasked us to create two creative concepts to choose from. Here are what both the campaigns looked like.

Concept #1:
People trust real people

• Our team discovered from extensive research that there is a lack of trust in big educational institutions and people are increasingly looking for more authentic, candid behaviour.

• For ANU, it was essential for them to build trust in their student community in a way that would resonate with both current and future students.

• The goal for the first concept was to use testimonials from current students to build confidence in the mindset of future students

Concept #2:
Meet challenge, Make change

• Meet challenge, make change was a concept inspired by the recent difficult years

• Catastrophic events such as the pandemic, floods, bushfires and more injustices left many prospective students questioning their part in doing good

• Expanding on this idea, concept 2 attracted students toward ANU’s postgraduate programs by highlighting the different impacts graduates could make to change the world around them

The goal for both the creative concepts was to promote ANU as the top choice for postgraduate study with the goal of converting these leads into applications.

ANU chose to move ahead with the second concept, as it felt relevant and current. We then proceeded with the creative execution of the assets.

The result?

The end creative concept was unique to the ANU brand, and a first.

We produced an original campaign relevant to the sentiment in Australia and for people looking to pursue postgraduate studies, while also taking advantage of the strong performance associated with video assets.

“Video is well outperforming our benchmarks.”

Kim Ryan, Senior Marketing Manager, Segment Marketing & Planning

LIKE WHAT YOU SEE?

Get in touch & let's make it happen

Australian Computer Society

We partnered with the Australian Computer Society (ACS), an association representing over 47,000 members in Australia’s burgeoning technology sector, on an ambitious campaign.

Builders Academy Australia

Student Garden has been working with Builders Academy Australia for over 6 years. Each year, we have increased the number of student registrations generated from our campaigns, and 2023 was no different.

genU Training

When genU Training approached us, they had a mission: to understand their potential leads better, fine-tune their contact records, and ultimately, convert these prospects into applicants.

Banyule

In an increasingly digital age, Banyule Nillumbik Tech School found themselves grappling with the complexities of effective social media marketing. At the heart of this job?

ANU Cybernetics

We orchestrated an advertising campaign aimed at recruiting students for ANU’s 2024 Master of Applied Cybernetics intake. This was a multi-faceted strategy with a threefold objective.

Hader Case Study

Hader Institute of Education is an RTO that offers online learning in mental health, youth work, community services, and alcohol & other drugs.

Australian Institute of Music Case Study | Social Garden

Flinders University Case Study | Social Garden

Deakin Manufutures

Driving a future state strategy for Deakin’s Manufacturing Initiative – ManuFutures

Melbourne Polytechnic

Achieving over 70% growth in organic traffic year-on-year for Melbourne Polytechnic

ANU Crawford School Student Acquisition

Driving an unprecedented
64% uplift in applications
year-on-year for ANU’s Crawford
School of Public Policy.

Deakin University

Improving Deakin University’s current applicant experience for a student first approach to conversion.

newsletter

Fortnightly digital marketing tips and insights