From the Nominator

"The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has a vision for global excellence that will catapult it into the digital world and differentiate it as the African University leading the 4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution) discourse. This fits perfectly with its desire to be seen as young, dynamic, and future-focused. Therefore, UJ’s vision is to become the leading voice and contributor to 4IR thinking--a strategy that is being driven by research, teaching and learning, infrastructure, and marketing/communication perspectives. 

Research done by UJ in 2019 showed that there is a certain fear or distrust of 4IR with UJ’s stakeholders about what 4IR is, how it can benefit them, and what threat it poses to job security. The strategy would, therefore, not only need to position UJ as the thought leader in this space, but also create an understanding of what it means to everyone’s future and change perceptions about 4IR. 

A long-term brand positioning campaign was developed to achieve this. The campaign targeted UJ's mature market segment--a complex audience segment necessitating thorough research (academics/thought leaders/business and industry leaders [employers/funders]). The campaign included thought leader conversations, 4IR stories emanating in the UJ corridors (proof points), an e-zine dedicated to 4IR topics, and op-eds written by academics at UJ. This content all lives on a bespoke 4IR website. A multi-channel media communications campaign ensured that these stories were shared with the relevant audience. The campaign ultimately reached over 518 million people internationally, nationally, and on the African continent."

From the Judges

Out of all the entries, this is the boldest and innovative one I've seen. The campaign "The future belongs to those who reimagine it" employs the vision it is trying to promote--the 4IR--using advanced data analysis with “Online Personality Portraits” and Social Economic Measures to target and segment its audience.