Taking place in the autumn of 2020, this campaign needed to address the global context that dominated everyone's daily lives. Rather than ignore our students' concerns about the future, we decided to address them head-on, adapting our successful “Be The Next” campaign to “Be The Change,” foregrounding a positive message about education, and addressing the impact of the pandemic on teaching. We wanted to invite young people to think about their career aspirations in relation to broader social themes, and show how we were changing our approach to education as a university through digital innovation. We aimed to make this bold statement while still communicating the tangible benefits of studying at the University of East London, being authentic in our approach, and addressing practical concerns about online learning and campus safety, using informative content.
The “Be The Change” campaign made a real statement, and had a significant impact on the institution. The University of East London saw year-on-year increases in metrics, as well as exceeding targets and outperforming competitors in a volatile and uncertain climate.
From the Judges
The university did a great job featuring the videos on their website. It was impressive they increased applications over 17% during this very trying time. The messaging "Be the Change" really tied in with the generation. Nice way to build upon the earlier "Be the Next" campaign. All of the headlines were a call to action. It was impressive to see the direct correlation between the success of the campaign and progress toward meeting institutional goals. The very authentic and emotionally driven videos that spoke to the type of student who will thrive here stood out.
