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.
"Happy Ever After" 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.
Francis Ratnieks is the only professor of apiculture in the UK. He’s based at the University of Sussex working on a 5-year-plan, compromising 4 separate projects, to help the reverse the decline in UK honeybees. In "Clean Bee" we find out about his fascinating and invaluable work.
The University of Sussex is world centre of expertise on energy policy research and the international politics of climate change. In this film "Carbon Mutual" we meet Dr David Ockwell - a member of the Sussex Energy Group – and find out about his work on the transfer of green technologies to poorer countries.
Dr Graham McAllister is the Managing Director of Vertical Slice – the UK’s first video game usability user-experience company. He set the company up while studying Informatics at the University of Sussex and is building rich body of knowledge on how people interact with gaming technology. "Generation Games"
When the University of Sussex asked Spectrecom to produce a student recruitment video showcasing their accomodation to prospective students, our creative team wanted to do something a little different that would appeal to the global "MTV generation" and help attract international as well as domestic students. So .. instead of a predictable student recruitment film with cliched shots of bedrooms and common areas, Spectrecom delivered a video that takes inspiration from "Cribs", a franchise reality television program on the MTV Networks that features tours of the houses and mansions of celebrities. Here it is.
To discuss your student recruitment video(s) or get a quotation, contact Christiaan Harden at christiaan@spectrecom.co.uk or call on 0203 405 2260.
Read his article "Student Recruitment 2.0" or return to student recruitment videos.
By Steve
