University of Cumbria

BACKGROUND
The University of Cumbria is the UK’s newest university, launched in August 2007. It was created from three existing institutions – St Martin’s College, Cumbria Institute for the Arts and some of the Cumbrian campuses of University of Central Lancashire.

THE OBJECTIVES
Ensure strong demand for places at the University of Cumbria by:

• Creating  awareness of the new institution
  
  
• Giving it a distinctive positioning
  
  
• Creating positive attitudes towards the new university

THE INSIGHT
Prospective students typically spend more time choosing what brand of jeans to wear than researching which university to attend. Familiarity with an institution brings strong implied favourability.

High profile, high visibility would be critical to help create familiarity and ultimately deliver applications.

EXECUTION
The positioning focused on a universal truth (that everyone has dreams) and linked the nurturing of those dreams to the new university. 

TV, cinema and outdoor in the North West allowed the launch campaign to reach prospective students, influencers and stakeholders.

RESULTS

• Spontaneous awareness of University of Cumbria trebled and prompted awareness grew to over 70%. In Cumbria it was 90%.
  
  
• University of Cumbria ranked third in the market for first mention awareness (a key measure of familiarity), behind only the historic universities of Manchester and Lancaster.
  
  
• Consideration grew by 150%, in effect 2½ times as many prospective students said they would consider applying to University of Cumbria after seeing the advertising.
  
  
• Applications are outperforming the market by 5%.