Monash University encourages you to question the answers in new work via GPY&R Melbourne
GPY&R Melbourne and Monash University ask people to ‘Question the Answers’ in a new integrated campaign.
A provocative campaign featuring Australian actor David Wenham and directed by Steve Carroll of Revolver, it encourages the audience to look beyond the conventional and accepted, and instead challenge the status quo.
Monash president and vice-chancellor, professor Margaret Gardner AO said the campaign aims to communicate the challenge and curiosity that fuels higher education as well as what Monash University represents as an institution that values innovation, persistence and impact.
Says professor 
Gardner: “We decided that when we did this film we would attempt to have it express the essence of what it was to be part of the Monash community. That essence is to be challenging, so the campaign had to reflect that in order to be a true representation of Monash and the way it has always approached the world. This campaign shows that 
we are prepared to ask questions that matter, seek challenges and search for new answers. We want to create that opportunity for our students.”
To live up to such a sentiment, the creative also needed to challenge conventional and common university tropes.
Says Jake Barrow, creative director GPY&R Melbourne: “With this strategy in mind we set out to create something that was pretty un-university like. Showing a bunch of students playing hacky sack in the quadrangle was never going to cut it for Monash.”
The campaign will run throughout the year, and is initially launched across TV, cinema, outdoor and digital.
Monash University:
Chief Marketing Officer: Margot Burke
Director, Campaign Management: Caroline Knowles
Agency: GPY&R
Executive Creative Director: Ben Coulson
Managing Partner: Julian Bell
Creative Director: Jake Barrow
Senior Writer: Katie Britton
Writer: Charles Bayliss
Executive Producer: Romanca Jasinski
Planning Director: Michael Hyde
Senior Account Director: Matthew Hunt
Senior Account Manager: Liz Jones
Account Manager: Sarah Wood
Executive Digital Producer: Ben Crowe
Interactive Designer: Rosalie Iaria
Production Manager: Gerry Matthee
Integrated Designer: Caleb de Gabriel
Production Company: Revolver
Director: Stephen Carroll
MD/Executive Producer: Michael Ritchie
EP/Producer: Pip Smart
Producer: Tobias Webster
DOP: Shelley Farthing Dawe
Post Production: The Butchery/The Refinery
Producer: Freya Maddock
Editor: Graeme Pereira
VFX Artist: Eugene Richards
Colorist: Martin Greer
Music:
Electric Dreams:
Cornel Wilczek
Mark Mitchell
Tommy Spender
Danny Thiris
Sound Design:
Flagstaff Studio:
Paul Le Couteur
Ceri Davies/Sally McManus
20 Comments
Huzzah!
Nice work Jakey and crew. Really nice.
There is some nice elements in there, but it just doesn’t work.
But not really..
Not particularly well shot, an interesting idea, but it’s a long set up for an obvious pay off..
As with everything, execution, execution, execution..
Nice strategy, nice execution, although the guy drumming on the stairs felt a little ad wankery, but that’s a small quibble for a really nice piece of work. Well done.
Beautiful work.
Refreshing to see something different in the category.
Classy, as expected from Patts.
What is the Voodoo you guys wave over your clients to get them to be consistently brave?
we say thank you – every other uni in melbourne
nice craft though
Well written, but the execution didn’t quite get there.
Finally something smart and conceptual for a University.
This makes you think, it should be one of the hottest creative categories in the ad game.
Why have Uni ads always been so safe and dull all these years?
I really like the execution. sexy B&W, bins on fire, creepy dudes in elevators, something blowing up. Pretty cool stuff.
And the music really works.
Big up Steve!
If you’re going to comment on your own stuff, stop putting a double line break at the top of your comment. It’s already obvious enough.
I like them but I am not sure why I should go to Monash after watching these.
Sorry.
Strong strategic territory – but the execution feels flat, predictable and uninspiring (particularly the faculty cut downs). Despite the premise I’m left thinking “ho hum”, rather than “question the answers”. As for the references used in the different faculty spots, none of them are directly connected with or relevant to Monash. Such a pity, given the budgets a clear client willingness to step outside the box.
Like the ad, but the university category has had some really interesting work in the last year. Western Sydney University and University of Melbourne both made work that was pretty startling. Agree that before that uni work was dull, but times they are a changin’
sorry…. what? I feel asleep. The ‘strategy’ is as interesting as David When…zzzzzzzz…..
For the parts where the archive footage made no sense whatsoever. We say thankyou.
Now excuse me while I set my wastepaper basket on fire.
…but very ordinary execution. Obvious. Boring. Bland.
UoM’s campaign contained real insight. This is fairly generic.
Too bad it is wide off the mark of what should be required for a university related ad.
The printed ads on campus say things like
“They said we’d never fly”
“They said the theory of relativity is just a theory” and ‘only recently was it proven by a team of researchers’ (paraphrasing).
They is a dirty weasel word here and not how you’d like someone in academia to argue.
The videos aren’t much better. The theory of relativity has been mainstream for nearly a century. A theory isn’t ‘just a theory’ in science. Theories can’t be proven.
The engineering ad willfully misquotes Orville Wright (he didn’t say we’d never fly — he flew!) who made a statement about the current state of technology regarding long-distance flights, and emphasized that this would change in the future.
It may no alienate the great majority of students, but it will alienate the best ones.
Thinking this one might appeal to the President’s sense of creativity (“we got David Wenham!”) more than any prospective student or influencer. Trying way to hard to be edgy and clever, and fails. Alternatively the agency is pursuing its own agenda.
Very impressed by Swinburne’s VTAC season offerings; a real contrast to the usual “choose {insert name of institution here}” – bright, vibrant and engaging. The contrast with Melbourne Polytechnic’s unappealing creative and production values couldn’t be greater.