The Task

Establish a brand platform that would protect and enhance University of Adelaide's standing as the university of choice for students and researchers in South Australia and throughout the national and international education and research communities.
 
The program had to bring meaning and relevance to the University's brand positioning line Life Impact - to articulate the fact that education, teaching and research at the University deliver real world outcomes both within and far beyond South Australia.

The Solution

Life Impact was brought to life through a simple typographic device which immediately added layers of engagement, personalisation and vitality to the previously under-utilised tagline. The typographic 'I' device drawn from within Life Impact was constructed to allow play with a cast of verbs which describe the way in which the University delivers real Life Impact every day through the activities of its staff, students, alumni and its broader stakeholder community.

To engage the South Australian market in a short timeframe, a tease and reveal campaign strategy was employed, utilising a suite of integrated mediums rolled out over a campaign period of four weeks.
 
At the forefront of the campaign was a monolithic letter I, 6 metres tall which acted as a physical manifestation of the campaign, creating intrigue and attention for its size and prominent positioning at selected Adelaide CBD locations, but more importantly representing a real world dimension to a campaign which is all about 'real world impact'.
 
Ongoing engagement was fueled by an active and carefully moderated social media program across, Facebook, Twitter and a dedicated microsite.
 
Television, online, outdoor and print advertising were employed to create an appropriate stature for the brand message.
 
All communication was designed to attract user-generated content in the form of personalized and individually written Life Impact stories which now populate a rich destination - a dynamic wall of story content displaying genuine and vivid evidence of the Life Impact positioning brought to life - at lifeimpact.com.au.

The Results

At this early stage our results exist only in the form of very encouraging engagement metrics - with nearly 200 stories submitted and over 3,600 visitors spending an average of nearly three minutes on the Life Impact Wall (as at 9 September 2011).
 
The new Life Impact communication program is now established as a dynamic platform on which the University is promoting its new student applications through SATAC, its inaugural Research Week and all major out-bound communication.