Anglia Ruskin University (ARU)

· Bringing clarity and purpose to messaging

· Drilling down to a core proposition

· Identifying stand-out motivating factors.

ARU rebranded in spring 2019, and through the process, evolved their visual identity including their logo. Their goal was to move to an aspirational brand position that could be brought to life for prospective students, across different faculties with distinct product propositions. We were challenged with developing the brand messaging and creative for ARU’s Law School.

It was essential that the messaging communicated the core proposition and all the supporting messages that go into it. By doing so, ARU’s future students will understand what studying there means to them and their career prospects.

Prior to developing specific product propositions by course, we worked with ARU to understand the relative strength of its current subject propositions against its identified competitor sets. This enabled us to:

· Identify areas of strength and weakness

· Inform future proposition development

· Inform how we would communicate those propositions to market

· Define the ARU offer.

We collated published content from university websites, specifically:

· Undergraduate and postgraduate courses

· Total of 30 subject groups for ARU and five competitors

· 11 areas were analysed:

• Industry links

• Placement opportunities

• Study abroad opportunities

• Accreditation

• Scholarships

• Course structure, mode and flexibility

• Modules • Additional course costs

• Teaching methods

• Entry tariff

• Other USPs

We compared 1,980 separate points and created a RAG rating for ARU’s proposition against each area, identifying key areas of strength and weakness and drafting recommendations.

We dug deep, asked questions and spoke at length with the course’s leaders, to discover what the LLB is all about, what it offers and what makes it different. We looked beyond the course content, to things like the teaching ethos and the learning experience. We conducted face-to-face workshops with the course leaders to really understand what the proposition was for each course and what would clearly differentiate them in the market.

• Ready for anything - Beyond legal knowledge, ARU teaches students the strengths that open-up the wider world.

• Personal support - ARU are as interested in their student’s wellbeing as they are their grades.

• Quality of learning experience - Lecturers are a mix of respected academics and lawyers. While in the legal clinic, students can support lawyers advising real clients.

• Your choice - ARU help students choose the right path and explore where what they’ve learned so far can take them next.

• A force for good - ARU’s teaching focuses on the role law plays in addressing inequality and making the world a fairer place.

We found that how students are taught matters. Scholarships need to be attainable and costs transparent. Accreditations were often confusing and course structure and entry points need to be detailed.

ARU identified the areas they needed to further develop and communicate were:

· Teaching and assessment methods

· Links with industry

· Placement opportunities

· Course structure.

In many instances, information did exist, but ARU had failed to communicate it on their website or in their literature. Our research highlighted where information needed adding to course pages and prospectuses, and how propositions and communications needed to develop to be more explicitly competitive.

The five themes enabled us to encapsulate what made the LLB so uniquely special.

“We teach law for the real world. How it effects and helps people, and how it shapes and influences society today. We teach it in a close-knit, supportive environment, where you’ll gain the perfect blend of technical legal knowledge and broader transferable skills. And because our courses will always give you options, you’ll be well equipped to thrive, wherever in the working world your ambitions lie.”

Plus a powerful core product proposition.

“Experience how law shapes the real world. And get ready to thrive in it.”

All that we learnt has been used by ARU to revise all course marketing materials, including web-copy. The course leaders have also used it to communicate more effectively with potential students at Open Events and when responding to queries.