McCann Melbourne takes home the CASE Global Platinum Award for ‘Made Possible By Melbourne’

Innovative University of Melbourne campaign, ‘Made Possible By Melbourne’ via McCann Melbourne, has taken home the world’s highest honour for the education industry, the CASE Global Platinum Award for Best Practices in Communications and Marketing.

The international awards program of The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), honours outstanding work in advancement services, alumni relations, communications, fundraising and marketing within the 3,670 colleges, universities, independent schools and affiliated non-profit organisations of the association, across more than 82 countries.

Lauded as one of the most integrated marketing campaigns the judges had ever seen, ‘Made Possible By Melbourne’ was branded content that took the science out of the University and turned the entire city into an immersive experience – a free exhibition of world-changing research.

It was a fully integrated campaign centered around 14 specially designed exhibits accompanied by an audio tour which gave information on each research story narrated by the researchers. This was supported by static and digital adshels, tram and train media, highly targeted digital, social and cinema.

Says Matt Lawson, executive creative director, McCann Melbourne: “It was an absolute pleasure bringing this research to life and having the chance to work with, and celebrate, so many brilliant thinkers. There is a perception that the research coming out of the University of Melbourne is mostly theoretical, it was good to be able to prove that the opposite is true.”

Stories featured in the exhibition included research that will improve half the world’s diet, a way to turn any water into drinking water, the creation of robotic arms with a human touch, and breakthroughs in prenatal care that will save thousands of unborn lives – to name a few.

Says Kim Howells, executive director marketing and communications, University of Melbourne: “This project is the result of a true collaboration between the University and McCann. Team members from the agency spent weeks on campus talking directly to researchers to understand their world-changing research. The creatives pushed the researchers to think about their work in a new way and in-turn the researchers have inspired the creatives to bring these projects to life in a way they we couldn’t have previously imagined. The result is something we believe Melbournians can be truly proud of.”

The campaign made the University’s research accessible in a way that had never been done before, connecting with their audience in a new and engaging way. With 3.2 million visitors to the exhibition and a global reach of 44 million, Made Possible By Melbourne is now a touring exhibition being used around Australia as an ongoing way for the University to publish its research stories.