The Widening Access and Participation team at Oxford University approached us for help in designing a postcard and web campaign to promote its 'Uniq' Summer Schools programme in British State Schools.
Above and below: Our early campaign concepts were deemed a little too irreverent!
The 'Uniq' programme gives sixth-formers from low socio-economic backgrounds, and areas with low progression to higher education, a taste of what it's like to study at Oxford University as an encouragement to consider applying for the full time courses.
Most full-time Oxford courses are available as Uniq Summer School tasters. However, some subjects were undersubscribed and it was these that the University particularly wanted to promote.
Clearly, for this young audience a postcard would need to be instantly engaging to be effective in driving traffic to the website. So, with our instinct for subversive humour we proposed that the card for each course would have a subject-related image which we would 'deface' with a cheesy or 'just plain rude' caption. The reverse of the card would identify the course name along with a list of subjects covered. It would also invite students to visit the Uniq website to submit their own captions and receive more information about the courses offered.
Although enthusiastically received by the Uniq team, these proposals were considered a little too irreverent to win higher approval. Shame. So, working closely with them, phase two involved developing a more studious concept referencing the tutorial format of the Summer Schools with an invitation to 'Join the Discussion'. A+ everyone!
