Having received healthy numbers of applications in recent years, The University of Manchester did not always need to give the same attention to marketing of clearing vacancies as we did to those earlier in the cycle. However, faced with an upward trend in students choosing to go to university through clearing, the launch of "Clearing self-release" from UCAS—as well as growth strategies from competitor institutions and the potential impact of the Augar review—we had to reconsider our approach, and do so quickly. The urgency of clearing makes a highly crowded market place even busier, where universities are competing for their voice to be heard. A project team was assembled, spanning marketing, content, design, digital, IT, admissions, alumni and academia, to creatively enhance our digital offer and provide students with easy access to information ahead of results day. And, when the big day came, we invested in serving highly personalised video content to all of the students who were celebrating securing their place at Manchester on Twitter and Instagram. On a minimal budget and completing all of the work in-house, we managed not only to meet our intake targets for 2019, but to deliver a distinctive campaign that was a first for the HE sector.
From the Judges
This was an outstanding entry - and the best in this category. The campaign was clearly done on a shoestring and yet was very innovative, built on market intelligence, had clear goals, a solid methodology and impressive results in the face of a complex and changing student recruitment context in the UK. The personalisation achieved serves as a good model to other institutions and should encourage the sector to realise how much can be achieved for very little money.
