In March 2009, Spectrecom was commissioned by the University of Sussex to produce a series of short student recruitment videos showcasing courses, faculties and academic departments to prospective students. The marketing department at Sussex knew they wanted to showcase the University’s prestigious doctoral research programmes, but were unsure about the most effective way to do this? 

The problem was that the research areas were often detailed, technical and complex, so to communicate the key messages in an engaging and accessible way, Spectrecom proposed producing a series of people-focused, story-based case studies – and not a series of films packed with facts, graphs and statistics.

Spectrecom researched a number of possible case studies, before settling on four stories. Each film was then shot in a distinct style to reflect the subject matter at hand.

Here's the first student recruitment video from the series. It's called "Happy Ever After" and features Dr Claire Langhammer, currently studying the history of love at Sussex using the internationally renowned Mass Observation Archive held at the University, which has allowed her to determine how conceptions of love change over time, depending on the historical context.