The University of Western Australia launches major brand refresh via The Brand Agency
CB Exclusive – The University of Western Australia (UWA), part of Australia’s elite group of 8 universities, has announced a major brand refresh via The Brand Agency Perth. A new brand identity and positioning will launch with an integrated marketing 
communications push starting on May 10.
The initiative includes an updated version of the UWA logo as well as a completely new brand positioning campaign based on UWA’s century-old mission to drive progress. The campaign will reveal a new brand proposition for UWA – “Pursue Impossible”.
Says Craig Buchanan, creative director at The Brand Agency: “The key driver for our creative idea was the insight that it’s those people who strive to achieve the seemingly impossible who keep the world turning.
“From the start, we wanted to portray a globally connected university with strong Perth roots. We’re really proud of the fact that it is almost exclusively a WA production, with significant input from talent at UWA itself.
“We realised that rising to these challenges is a journey, so we wanted to tell a story of one person’s quest using the metaphor of a global journey battling the challenges of climate, stamina and environment. All that remained was to bring to life the idea of keeping the world turning, so we showed that when our hero female runner stops pursuing her dreams, the world stops with her.”
Perth production company The Penguin Empire and director Grant Sputore produced 60 second, 30 second and 15 second TV formats as well as a 75 second extended cut for web use, with special effects by Last Pixel. Another key component of the film is the use of powerful percussion music using a custom score preformed by UWA School of Music students and directed by Soundbyte.
Karen Carriero, Chief Marketing Officer at UWA, said the initiative was a huge collaborative effort. “Our Marketing and Communications team, our web office and design team at UniPrint all worked really closely with our agency partners at Brand, Rubis and OMD to create the University’s first major, integrated brand refresh in over 40 years. We wanted the brand proposition to be more student centric and I think we’ve achieved that.”
The campaign will launch initially to the local WA market within main media, and reach global audiences online. It includes television, press, out of home, online advertising and a new campaign landing page, www.pursueimpossible.com.au.
The media activity is supported by a completely refreshed logo and identity.
Says Dan Agostino, head of design, The Brand Agency: “It’s about evolving the core elements of the existing logo to be more relevant to today’s digital environment while retaining UWA’s history. We’ve looked at the structure of the entire brand, including a full redesign of their extensive suite of corporate collateral, building a unique custom typeface and a fully responsive microsite for the launch.”
The formal Coat of Arms that appears on degree certificates has not been changed.
21 Comments
That looks very expensive.
No worries – international students will pay for it.
great cinematography
Just threw up in my mouth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifuO7QB0i6w
Nice spot. It’s about time unis realised they have to fight for share of market. As for people who feel they have to look smart by linking to other work that happens to use the same word – get a life.
Stunningly unoriginal. A mash up of lots of far better ads. Frankly, its just lazy, the creatives have imitated without flattering.
Must be on her way to buy an essay to hand in just in time.
Realist it’s not just same same word, it’s the same strategy/nothing’s impossible chase your dreams you can achieve anything blah blah blah- and it’s as old ss the Perth Hills. Nicely shot though and lovely sound track.
Realist.
There must be hundreds of way to execute Pursue Impossible. But the creatives have taken the easy route and asked a talented director to bring a lazy and cliched expression of the idea to life. He has done a fantastic job but the ad just feels like an uninspired homage to great work like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7hzyr0tttU. Sorry in advance for linking to work that happens to have the same execution.
That’s ok JC. Just swallow it back up like the dog you are.
You could pretty much just slap a Big Bank logo on the end of that, or airline and it would work just as well. It’s hardly specific to universities. Doesn’t make me want to study there. I am getting a sudden urge to visit Asia though and I’m sure Craig got a nice trip out of it. So that’s the main thing!
I rarely comment on CB, but the comments on this ad are just crazy. The spot looks fabulous. It is really well directed. I’ll bet they had nothing near the sort of money needed to create something of this scale and production value, having done a lot of educational institution campaigns over the years.
The music is good, and done by students.
And conceptually, education is a really hard category to do anything out there script wise.
I’m a director. I dont know this director or this agency, but I reckon they did a fabulous job and should be damn happy. As they say, haters gonna hate.
DT
Don’t worry, some people just have their own axe to grind. I don’t work in Sydney, which is where I assume most of these comments come from, but it seems like a very negative and aggressive place.
DT, it’s about being original and this isn’t….never mind a bank logo, an adidas or Nike one night be more appropriate.Whist no-one owns the word ‘impossible’ this approach has been done before, no matter how good the execution is.
Never mind whether it’s original or not I think everybody is missing the point. This girl is really really fit! She just sprinted about 10,000 kilometres around earth and you’re posting links about stealing ideas? Respect her fitness!! Respect it damn you!
I dont mind the ad – in a category that’s very safe, traditional etc, i think this feels modern and pacey and all that – and it’s clearly going to appeal to International markets (who probably never saw the 1980’s Adidas or Nike work everyone is up in arms about.
I’m less sure about the line “pursue impossible” – I want university to feel achievable not a mountain I can’t climb…
great ad wish I did it.
Yeah, but that girl is stunningly beautiful, she makes the add more than anything else, wish I knew who she was
Shame it’s been so poorly received so by the local scuritising market. It’ would be great if the average person actually understood the underlying message of this campaign. Sorry UWA, such a great uni with poor marketing and advertising. Missed the mark on this one. Hopefully they weren’t your graduates taking the creative and marketing leads.
They will also be in action on April 25 at the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational in Bellingham, Washington.