Making toads go viral, and other campaigns that won big at UA’s marketing awards

How do you make a toad’s genome exciting? How do you convince researchers to increase their media footprint? And how – the eternal question – do you inspire people to send more dollars your way? These are the predicaments that the winners of last night’s sector awards for university marketing masterfully overcame. Held by Universities Australia, the Marketing, Communications and Development (UAMCD) awards recognise the strategy, acumen and extensive research that goes into telling an engaging story to a specific audience – whether it’s students, academics, alumni or potential donors. The University of South Australia led the night, winning Best Marketing Campaign – Larger Budget for its ‘study on-demand’ student recruitment initiative. “This straightforward campaign didn’t overthink things,” said the judges. “Eschewing any temptation for institutional introspection, it got right to the point.” (It truly is, Campus Review has previously observed, very easy for university branding to get cringingly lost in its own reflection.) The Best Proactive Communications award was shared by UNSW Sydney and Edith Cowan this year. UNSW was praised for leveraging the iconic Aussie status of the cane toad to spread a research success story. Pre-pitching under embargo to elevate the hype, and with an engaging video fanned across social media featuring the slimy menace, the story on cracking the toad’s DNA code went gangbusters. The judges were likewise impressed by the “cheeky upstarts” at ECU’s crack comms team, who set themselves the goal to double their university publication rate with reputable academic media outlet, The Conversation. “It took extensive work with researchers, convincing them of the benefits of publishing, running a masterclass and awards night, coaching researchers and building ties with TC’s editors to skill up authors and polish their copy,” the judges said. “The publishing amp-up generated significant spin-off coverage in Tier 1 national and global media – which bolstered speaking and conference invitations and generated new industry collaboration leads for the researchers." The fundraising champions this year were from the University of Sydney. The judges spoke in something close to awe of the university’s Inspired campaign, which raised $1 billion dollars and reached over 64k donors worldwide. “A huge initiative, delivered with technical precision, a sustained expert partnership between university and advancement leadership and an ambitious vision – was a decade in the making,” they said. “It has changed what is possible in university philanthropy in this country: a game-changing campaign that has transformed the landscape, changing countless lives through philanthropy-funded research and scholarship.” For his 23 years as a marketing ninja at UniSA, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Alan Brideson was handed the Lifetime Achievement award. "He’s a highly-deserving recipient of this prestigious honour, which is awarded to someone who has dedicated much of their career to senior leadership in these fields in the university sector,” said UA chief executive Catriona Jackson. “UA congratulates Alan and all of this year’s award winners. Their impressive skill, expertise and dedication is clear from the quality of their work. Their passion for universities and the work they do is front and centre in their entries.” View the full list of winners below. Best Marketing Campaign – Larger Budget University of South Australia, “Study on demand” online student recruitment campaign Best Marketing Campaign – Smaller Budget Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, The University of Melbourne, "Open Up Your World" Campaign: Australian Postgraduate Research Intern Program Best Real-time Response Communications Swinburne University, Media and Communications, Best real-time response comms systems and planning 2019 Best Proactive Communications UNSW Sydney, Unlocking cane toad DNA Edith Cowan University, The Conversation strategy Best fundraising campaign or initiative – Large Team The University of Sydney, Inspired Best fundraising or engagement campaign – small team RMIT University, Capitol Theatre appeal Lifetime Achievement Award 2019 Alan Brideson, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, University of South Australia