Deakin University challenges the world to think young in a new brand campaign via The Royals
The Royals has created a bold campaign for Deakin celebrating the university’s progressive and courageous mindset.
Deakin University will this Sunday launch its first brand campaign in more than three years, created by The Royals, in a bold response to increased competition and clutter within the university sector.
The integrated campaign, ‘Think Young’, introduces vibrant use of colour to the monochromatic and cluttered University advertising landscape. Drawing inspiration from the Light and Space movement of the 1960s that prefigured today’s merger of art and technology, the campaign uses geometric shapes to represent the problems of the future and encourages people to use new thinking to create a better tomorrow.
With executions across television, digital video, high-impact outdoor, social media, native and content channels, ‘Think Young’ features forward-thinking academics, students and alumni to demonstrate Deakin’s commitment to open-mindedness and new ways of thinking.
Among those featured are Alex Smith, a Deakin Business & Law student; Barun Chatterjee, a Photography and International Relations major turned international filmmaker; and Professor Ying (Ian) Chen, whose team has manufactured a super-absorbent material called boron nitride nanosheet, described as one of the most exciting advancements in oil spill clean-up technology in decades.
Says Trisca Scott-Branagan, executive director of marketing, Deakin University: “Deakin is a young, vibrant and cutting-edge university with great ambitions, and it’s our people that are the embodiment of our culture and the essence of who we are as a brand. ‘Think Young’ represents our challenger mindset and aligns our marketing and reputational goals for the future with those of our extraordinary students, staff and Deakin alumni.”
Says Nick Cummins, ECD, The Royals: “We wanted to create a campaign that was a distinct contrast from the rest of the University category. With ‘Think Young’, the execution had to feel as fresh and modern as the idea itself. The ability to hero members of the Deakin community who ‘Think Young’ on a daily basis gives the campaign an authenticity that’s impossible to fabricate.”
Deakin University is ranked in the top 2% of the world’s universities (Academic Ranking of World Universities, Times Higher Education, QS World University Rankings) and is the #1 University in Victoria under 50 years old, according to the prestigious Times Higher Education top 150 under 50. Deakin’s also been awarded the #1 ranking for student satisfaction in Victoria for six years in a row (2010-2015 Australian Graduate Survey).
Client: Deakin University
Executive Director Marketing: Trisca Scott-Branagan
Head of Brand: Jessica McCartney / Helen Stevens
Campaign Manager: Jayde Walker
Brand Manager: Sandy Muir
Strategic Campaign Coordinator: Amy Devereaux
Agency: The Royals
Executive Creative Director: Nick Cummins
Account Director: Paige Kilburn
Account Manager: Navin Arunasalam
Senior Art Director: Tim Holmes
Senior Copywriter: Gareth Sweet
Senior Art Director: Alberto Talegon
Art Director: Joel Utter
Copywriter: Gus Hedstrom
Design Director: Gavin Wright
Agency Producer: Chelsea Nieper
Communications Director: Andrew Reeves
Production Company: The Producers
Director: Andrew Goldsmith
Producer: Noelle Jones
Post Production: Pixel
Music Composition: Dan Luscombe
Photographer: Jay Hynes
31 Comments
So much better than whatever that Worldly stuff was. Good move Deakin.
Did they used to be Worldly? Well done Deakin.
Feels like fabricated regurgitated 60s garbage authenticity.
Why would you put this on here? Really.
Flume meets Vaporwave meets Deakin.
Nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxpDa-c-4Mc
Looks like James Turrell via Kmart. This is why advertising is frowned upon guys.
Oh, and all those positive comments are so obviously agency you guys should really try to disguise it a little more.
Victoria’s #1 university under 50 years old – What the!?
does not make my hotline bling
Good work in a tough category. Nice one Royals.
Stand out work in a very, very tough category, nice
Come on son, jump through the mighty pink hole.
Looks like James Turrell via Kmart. This is why advertising is frowned upon guys.
Oh, and all those positive comments are so obviously agency you guys should really try to disguise it a little more.
if i didn’t spend all my time writing scathing comments about decent work I might actually be good at this advertising game.
Great work!
Looks pretty cool to me. Really stands out within the category. Good stuff.
cool type and design. nice positioning too – totes millenial.
What’s the benefit to the punter?
Sorry this is woeful.
Think Young is BS too. Why will this make choose Deakin.
I think pink.
I’m with think pink
Shite
If the Royals spent as much time coming up with an idea as they did astroturfing, they might have something to share.
The reality is this is woeful and completely devoid of an idea.
A: Who is the real patricktiernan?
B: Why is he having a conversation with himself?
Best turn autofill off mate if you’re going to thank-spam your own work
One in the pink one in the stink.
And it smells like plagiarism of a famous visual artist
Wtf. Haha. Stupidity.
Sorry guys
I’ve never seen this much agency self commenting in a long time. Let it go fellas. It is what it is
Wasn’t “Think Young” a Pepsi slogan from the 1960s?
What a furtive mockery of their many mature age students, and the majority of their staff who aren’t ‘young’.
What’s with the vertical ‘INK’ over the faces in the images? They’ve just got through ditching all their ‘ink’ – the high quality printed study materials on which their reputation was founded – for online delivery.
Seems highly derivative of the Melbourne University ‘Dream Large’ slogan – more your ‘Dream Small’.
Why would you put this on here? Really.
And you can only imagine the comments from the digi folk if a proper ad agency had delivered this shite (not that a proper ad agency would ever deliver this shite though).
Nice one The Royals!
I wonder what the Deakin Marketing/Advertising academics thought of this and how they might assess this campaign?