The client
Lewisham College, situated in South London, is one of the country's leading further education colleges, with Beacon status and two Centers of Vocational Excellence.
The work
Messaging • Advertising • Campaign imagery
The brief
Lewisham College commissioned Firedog to develop a stimulating summer advertising campaign with bold creative and impactful messaging to inspire 16-18 year olds to enrol at the College.
The solution
Firedog commenced the project with thorough research in order to define what inspires the target London audience. The strategic direction was presented in a visual mood exercise, exploring different corridors to set an appropriate tone. This included a central ‘hero’ image of a potential student composed within a memorable supporting graphic, communicating a diverse yet highly competent institution.
The strategic direction took its cues from leading sports brands (e.g. Nike) where the campaigns are highly inspirational and command the audience to ‘be their best’. The campaign was divided into three course segments in order to appeal to all College audiences: IT-Business-Engineering; Art-Creative-Health and Beauty; Sport-Construction-Outdoor. The resulting imagery is highly creative, expressively dynamic and progressive – all supported by strong headlines and call-to-action messaging. The campaign certainly creates stand out for Lewisham College in the higher education market, appearing on the back of buses, billboards, posters, magazines, newspapers and leaflets. Three key images were selected to form the base of the campaign and each one was taken through a series of visual post production. For the most recent campaign we tie imagery of real students with strong graphic devices, creating a vibrant and memorable impression.
The results
The campaign has been run for two years in a row and has increased applications for study by forty percent. The campaign graphics have also been extended into the entire online communications strategy and social network remit.
