Since 1907 London’s Imperial College has built a global reputation by focussing on science, technology, maths and engineering. More recently it also offers post-graduate degrees in additional subjects such as business and finance.
But for a world top ten University, it has often kept a relatively low profile. As the world’s Universities reel from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and increased global competition for the best students, Imperial wanted to start turning outwards to the world and be more in control of its public identity.
It asked us to prepare its first-ever global student recruitment campaign. The aim? To highlight the quality of their work and research across key departments, showcase an increasingly diverse cohort of students, and cement their reputation as the most ‘STEM’ focussed University in Europe.
Our idea centres on photographic silhouettes of future students, which on closer inspection are also intricate collages encapsulating the amazing subjects that students can study at Imperial.
By painstakingly creating and compositing a series of key images for each core department, the campaign works on a series of levels – humanising and softening the College while illustrating its depth and breadth of its offer. Above are the lead images for Natural Sciences and Environmental Policy. Below, the imagery for Engineering and Medicine.
We’ve also developed a series of short animations that see the stills turn into moving images, each ending with the campaign’s central message – that Imperial is ‘your head start’.
These elements have been adapted and re-purposed across multiple digital platforms – a suite of communications material that numbers over 150 different assets running in across social and digital media worldwide.
Since launch we’ve been steadily adapting the idea for different departments who have seen the work and in turn want their courses to be part of the campaign.
The initial results are encouraging: our work has led directly to thousands more enquiries and hundreds more applications. For decades Imperial has been a ‘well kept secret’ – finally those secrets are being shared.
The team
- Design, concept and art direction: Johnson Banks
- Additional copywriting: Chris Zacharia
- Animation: Robbie Hancock