Project overview
Introduction
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a global leader in postgraduate art and design. But this impressive reputation also came with misconceptions that the RCA was the reserve of the traditional elite. They needed a recruitment campaign that would challenge these views to drive applications from students from different backgrounds and further diversify their student body.
Assessing the global market
We analysed the RCA’s first party data alongside our Student Market Insights to:
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understand global market trends
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explore risks and opportunities
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inform media targeting strategies that would be most effective.
Based on this research, we focused our activity on regions with an above-average number of potential students – for the RCA, this included the UK, ASEAN markets, India and the USA.
Understanding perception and awareness
To measure awareness against their defined competitor set, we delivered a brand and perception survey across their three core markets – the UK, USA and India. We then worked with the RCA’s creative agency, using the findings to inform strong content and messaging. Combined with our highly targeted media strategy, this shifted perceptions and enrolment numbers.
Testing the creative options
To fully maximise performance, we tested the proposed campaign creative with focus groups to explore how well new campaign statements, ad copy and imagery resonated. The findings then influenced the direction of the new creative.
Creating a nurture strategy
We also worked with QS Enrolment Services, who manage the RCA’s international student enquiries, to understand:
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characteristics that are important for enrolment by market
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correlations between engagement with QSES and likelihood to enrol.
We also analysed tagged content to build student nurture tracks for each target market. The RCA told us this saved them over £50m in potential attrition.
A targeted, sustainable global media strategy
This insight informed our international media strategy, which included activity across 24 media channels, including eight affiliate platforms. They were chosen for their potential reach of our global target audiences, and include paid search, social media, programmatic and video on demand.
Optimising results
Having accurately informed the development of creative specific to each market, we could switch creatives and messaging as the RCA’s priority courses changed. The dynamic ability of DCO in our programmatic advertising also meant we could:
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retarget users based on course pages visited
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serve a personalised banner with copy related to that course
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maximise performance with ease and without downtime.
Post-campaign research proved that we altered negative brand perceptions to re-establish the RCA’s offer in international markets. We achieved:
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84% of potential students thinking more positively about the RCA
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41% increase in enrolments
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47% growth in tuition fee revenue from new starters.
Nine programmes also gained students from the US, India or ASEAN regions that previously had no students from these countries.
We’ve continued to build on our success with huge increases in enrolments:
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+500% growth from India
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57% growth from the US
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35% growth from the UK
Our strategy also helped to win the Gold Heist Award for Best Postgraduate Campaign.