ABOUT

Brief –
AECC University College had a rebrand and repositioning challenge – they needed help to turn the world’s leading university for Chiropractic into the UK’s first specialist university in Health Sciences. The process also saw AECC merge with a second university, the University College of Osteopathy, and become, for the first time, a dual city campus (in Bournemouth and London).

Concept –
The rebrand and repositioning brief we undertook needed to reflect the university’s new strategy. Rather than the sole focus being Chiropractic there had been a widening of its skills base and teaching into a variety of new areas, including physiotherapy, radiology and psychotherapy and it was important the university now communicated to the world that it was a very different institution to the single specialism institution that it had been previously.

Part of the brief was ensuring that every audience for the university – current staff and students, prospective student applicants, key influencer organisations in Higher Education, alumni, commercial partners, local and central government and more – understand the significant organisational and positioning change the university was undertaking.

Execution –
We began with a series of workshops and engagement sessions with key influencers right across the university, covering every faculty, department, the student union, former alumni, the university management board and more, to develop a new narrative for the University, a platform that everybody would be motivated and engaged by. Using the insights we gained from the sessions, we developed a new brand identity for Health Sciences University, with all associated assets and tools – brand mark, palette and fonts, template, tone of voice guidelines, imagery, and brand guidelines.

We collaborated with the university’s brand and marketing team to ensure every touchpoint across both campuses reflected the new name and identity at launch. We produced multiple pieces of collateral and marketing material, developed templates for multiple channels to create new communication messages, and a new prospectus as the university launched its positioning to undergraduate and postgraduate students for the first time. A wide section of HSU’s recruitment comprises international students, so we worked to ensure that all material worked effectively for these audiences as well.

We also worked with particular parts of the organisation such as the student’s union to develop a separate identity for them in a way which enabled them to communicate that they were both part of the university but also an independent voice within the organisation.

Results –
The work culminated with the official launch of the new university in November 2024 by the installation of Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal as the university’s inaugural Chancellor and again we worked closely with the university brand team around this event to ensure brand consistency and delivery.

Since the launch we’ve also developed new recruitment tools and templates for a variety of uses such as UCAS fairs and exhibitions, recruitment tools, social media support and more, as for the first time the university recruits students as the Health Sciences University.