
University recruitment campaigns are generally interchangeable – but not Victoria U which pitches to the young people who live around its campuses in western Melbourne.
It makes a change to the generality of old and rich HE marketing to students, which are all about university achievements and how they can help students become UN general secretary, before getting on with the serious environmental activism.
VU sells to students who want to change the world by improving their own lives – working class people, many migrants or their children, unfamiliar with post-school study and who do not like being patronised.
“Wherever you’ve come from, wherever you’re going, your story is as unique as you are — and no one sees you like VU,” is the message. And it backs the branding with specifics, especially the block-teaching model that makes sense to people who don’t know how HE works, “focus your efforts, master your skills, and receive real-time feedback before moving on to the next subject.” It’s a rare example of a university actually selling on what it does, rather than airy abstractions of excellence.
VU is not a high-status brand so it can only sell on what it actually offers.
In contrast CQU announces a “brand refresh” which sounds bigger than it is.
Instead of changes to courses and platforms, it promotes a, “new modern logo, colours and design system that pays homage to our heritage yet delivers a fresher and future focused brand that’s more accessible in all contexts, for all people.” Plus there is an “exciting new brand campaign featuring the stories of our students and the success that means more to them.”
Good-o, but livery and comms aren’t the brand.
If CQU was really refreshing what it does, there would be announcements of courses to meet changing research-based programs to improve student/stakeholder support, and a campaign that makes for market demand and builds the case that there is more to the university’s identity than its location. A new logo does not do it.