In 2016, as a key initiative of the 2025 Strategy, UNSW Sydney launched a global recruitment and awareness drive with the aim of hiring 700 new PhD Scholars and 290 leading researchers over ten years.
Goals
- Elevate the awareness and consideration of UNSW Sydney amongst key academic and leading researcher cohorts in specific geographic markets [1].
- Within the minds of the global academic community, position UNSW Sydney as a world-leading research institution which hires the world’s best researchers.
- Communicate the unique benefits of the Scientia PhD Scholarship and Scientia Fellowship schemes to potential applicants.
- Generate measurable actions from potential, qualified candidates of either a “Registration of interest” (during pre and post recruitment periods) or a successful application (during the open recruitment periods).
- Leverage the recruitment campaign to assist in reaching our 2025 Strategy goal of consistently being ranked in the top 50 global universities.
[1] Target academic recruitment markets: UK, USA, Canada, Germany, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and India.
Scope and Constraints:
- Reach – Qualified candidates for both schemes are hard to identify, access and target effectively leading to large numbers of low quality leads.
- Awareness and consideration – The global awareness of UNSW amongst the cohort is relatively low, leading to a need for the recruitment campaign to increase awareness and generate both immediate and longer-term consideration.
- Geography – The majority of qualified applicants are located outside of Australia. Although the 2016 campaign attempted to leverage the positive feelings associated with our Sydney location, exit surveys from applicants have shown that the Sydney location is far down the list of considerations. In fact, is the Sydney location a hurdle which the campaign needs to overcome or perhaps downplay?
- Reputation – While UNSW has recognition from an international standpoint, they are not viewed as top tier in comparison to other global universities like Cambridge, Harvard, and Oxford. Can the unique benefits of our Scientia PhD Scholarship and Scientia Fellowship schemes alleviate these reputational issues? Do these schemes have unique benefits when compared to other institutions schemes?
Process and what I did
Creative lead assigned to liaise with agency engaged to create campaign idea. Direct, co-create and manage creative output of all design assets. Present visuals of final products to UNSW senior management. Oversee operational process to manage workflow and approve prior to going live.
Design assets included both paid and unpaid vehicles with a significant paid component.
Paid Marketing
- High profile international print and online advertising targeting UK/US/Asia and top 100 universities.
- Domestic print and online advertising (SMH, AFR, AHE).
- Social media ads and boosted posts.
- Google Search campaign (AdWords).
- Recruitment websites primarily academic sites globally (e.gUnijobs, FindaPhD, HigherEd, CareerSpot).
- LinkedIn targeting of academics in key universities.
Unpaid Marketing
- EDM – 6 x emails to registrations of interest.
- UNSW Magazine back cover positioning and online.
- UNSWorld Magazine to alumni and emails.
- Social media through UNSW channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter).
- Faculty support through online promotion (Faculty Facebook and homepage).
- Digital advertising within research websites.
- UNSW home page web banners.
- Large format banner at 223 Anzac Parade, Kensington NSW.
Phase 1: Brand and event awareness + expression of interest. Promotional Dates: 9 March – 1 October 2016. Budget: $85k.
Phase 2: Global recruitment drive for applications (20 fellowships and 75 PhDs to be filled). Promotional Dates: 5 October – 30 November 2016. Budget $147k.
Phase 3: Global recruitment drive for applications (40 fellowships and 125 PhDs to be filled). Promotional dates: April – June 2017. Budget: 300k.
Outcomes
6138 click throughs
from online ads
10,500+ expressions
of individual interest
Learnings and Recommendations
- All media used to be thoroughly analysed to determine expenditure priorities for Phase III particularly with online and social media. Cost/click analysis will determine which platforms were most successful and should be maintained.
- Consideration to be given to the overall media channel split and the addition of strategically sited billboards to increase exposure and brand awareness.
- Ideally, planning and execution of the campaign should be approved at least eight weeks prior to launch. This will allow adequate time for changes and for media negotiations to be economically and efficiently managed.
