University win at the Northern Marketing Awards
The University of Gloucestershire and our creative partner Waterfall have been awarded Best Green/Sustainable Campaign at the Northern Marketing Awards 2020 for our Who Cares? campaign.
Judges described the campaign as refreshing and disruptive in its aim to ‘kill the traditional university prospectus and replace it with environmentally friendly digital content’. Judges loved the campaign’s principles and attitude and praised the university for doing something so ‘bold, innovative and brave’ for the sector.
In March 2020, the University of Gloucestershire announced it was ending the production of a traditional printed prospectuses in favour of digital-only versions. This move forms part of the university’s new “Who Cares? We Do” campaign which taps into what today’s students care about − from fitting in at university, to how their experience will benefit their future, to global sustainability issues.
Key features included:
- Student led content – accessed via wildflower planting wristbands with QR code
- Digital prospectus – with podcasts on the campaign areas and sustainability focus
- Sustainability promotion – showing how we support our students to live and learn sustainability.
- Industry engagement – to inspire others to follow our move and consider ways to reduce waste.
Taking this stand on the 2.5 million prospectuses UK universities produce each year, we avoided the carbon and waste impact of publishing our previous 45,000 prospectuses annually. Savings on print costs were used to create new digital content which also involved students in the design and creation process.
The bedrock of the campaign is the number one status we achieved in the UK People and Planet 2019 league table which assesses all UK universities on 13 different sustainability impact areas, from operations to curriculum. The response from applicants and parents has been overwhelmingly positive.
