The University of Technology Sydney unveils new strategic positioning and brand platform
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has undertaken a big strategic move to differentiate itself and unify its brand in a competitive and oversaturated sector, with a new brand platform from The Core Agency.
Following a competitive pitch, The Core Agency was tasked with defining what UTS’ positioning is and what the university calls a brand platform, before creating the work itself.
Taking a brand storytelling approach to the new creative, the campaign features three hero films following the tagline, ‘It’s not just a university, it’s UTS’. It focuses on the way UTS tries to challenge the status quo of traditional institutions.
It brings the stories of various real UTS students to life, highlighting the potential creativity and opportunities on offer.
Rebecca Turner, managing partner at The Core Agency, said it was important to remind people of UTS’ point of difference.
“UTS is, in terms of awareness, consistently ranked third after Sydney [Uni] and UNSW. But they’re the number one young university,” she told Mumbrella. “So there’s this interesting tension there, where UTS is very successful and is constantly being compared to the older universities, but what it offers is quite different.”
It is underpinned by the strategic positioning, ‘unconventional excellence’. While Turner said this phrase won’t necessarily be used externally, it perfectly encapsulates all UTS is trying to express.
“There are words that constantly come up to describe [UTS]. Innovative, creative, at the heart of tech,” she told Mumbrella. “So we thought, how can we express all of those things in a way that’s a benefit, and that’s how we arrived at unconventional excellence.”
UTS’ chief marketing and communications officer, Tracy Chalk, said it was important to break the “standard ‘smiling student’ formula” and create a narrative of how and why, rather than what.
“We needed an agency that could capture the unique qualities of a UTS experience and bring them to life through visual storytelling to build an emotional connection with our audiences. The Core Agency delivered in spades,” she said in a media release on Monday.
The campaign has launched in Australia and internationally, with OOH, digital display and social to complement the hero films.
A new design system has also been created, leveraging the existing brand identity, to unify all the campaign assets and allow it to be scaled across the university.
The unification of UTS’ brand is intended to spread across faculties and other university initiatives.
“At the moment, we’re doing this specifically at a brand level, but the ambition is that it would scale to the rest of the university,” Turner told Mumbrella.
“They’ve started talking to the different faculties … We also looked at post-grad, undergrad, and research. We haven’t taken the campaign to that audience yet, but the intention is that think would work across everything.”
Credits:
Client: University of Technology Sydney
Chief Marketing & Communication Officer: Tracy Chalk
Head of Brand Strategy & Digital Marketing: David Rogan
Brand Strategy & Market Segments Manager: Devika Adlakha
Agency: The Core Agency
Founders & Creative Partners: Christian Finucane & Jon Skinner
Managing Partner: Rebecca Turner
Chief Strategy Officer: Megan Sneesby
Design Director: Nick Williams
Senior Creative: Sarah Mould
Senior Account Director: Stacey Paul
Senior Producer: Meredyth Judd
Production:
Director: Mick Soiza
Production house: Korace Films
Photographer: Nick Bowers
Post/audio: Monarx Post
Media: Bench Media
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