From the Nominator

"Over a year into the pandemic, as the world continued to grapple with COVID-19’s widespread implications, experts across Western University were identifying issues and contributing to solutions. At a time when most institutions were in a constant state of reactive communications, Western Communications shifted the dialogue to the important work of its researchers. 

Through an engaging microsite, Western told the story of how we are committed to uncovering the pandemic’s impact on society and how we can move past this to create a safer, healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable post-pandemic world. Key to the campaign’s success was a digital platform through which we could tell Western’s research stories. Our team developed a microsite to host a compelling content series that would build our brand and enhance our reputation as a leading Canadian research-intensive university.  

The campaign's success was measured through brand exposure, including researcher engagement, advertising, social and digital impressions, media hits, and microsite performance. All communications led to the microsite, presenting diverse research stories and a consistent brand narrative and visual story to the world. Over this eight-week campaign, the microsite clocked 18,755 page views, visits from 12,246 unique users, and the average time spent on a page was 4 minutes and 21 seconds. 

By telling the stories of the important research that was happening behind the scenes at Western, this communications campaign broke through the COVID messaging clutter, renewed community hope, and positioned Western as a research powerhouse."

From the Judges

With compelling content, eye-catching graphics, and vibrant images, this microsite keeps you clicking onward. The animated charts and graphs in Chapter 3 are top-notch and hearing directly from the researchers in the videos added a personal connection.