Our impact branded a success

The University of Adelaide has won a major marketing award for its Life Impact brand advertising campaign.

The university has received the Australian Marketing Institute's State Award for Marketing Excellence in branding. It will now contend for the National Award this month.

The first brand advertising campaign in the University of Adelaide's 130-year history, "Life Impact" shows how the university has an impact on the lives of its students and graduates and how they in turn have a significant impact on the community.

Some of those featured in the Life Impact campaign include:

• Coopers Brewery Managing Director
  Tim Cooper;
  
• Olympic rower and World Champion
  Amber Halliday;
  
• Medicine student and Young Australian of the Year (South Australia) Matthew Hutchinson; and
  
• Australian Young Winemaker of the Year Briony Hoare.

University of Adelaide Professor of Marketing Pascale Quester said the Life Impact campaign was successful because it illustrates the relevance and significance of a University of Adelaide qualification to everyday life.

"Earlier research pointed to the need to connect the university with 'real life'. While perceptions were very positive towards the quality of our students and staff, how this excellence translated into reality remained vague," she said.

"The object of the campaign was to position the university as an exciting, vibrant part of the community. It shows how the education acquired by students in many different fields can directly benefit the wider community."

The many talented students and graduates of the University of Adelaide who took part in the campaign made it that much easier to help "sell" the university, said the Director of Marketing and Strategic Communications, Mr Michael Neale.

"Developing an excellent marketing strategy is much easier when you have an outstanding offering and that's exactly what we have at the University of Adelaide," Mr Neale said.

"Much of the success can be attributed to the willingness of graduates and staff to be involved and offer support.

"The campaign also benefited from the excellent internal creative team who efficiently executed the strategy. Special thanks however must go to the people who agreed to have us tell their stories."

Story by Ben Osborne