ITT300 Appointment of Creative Agency

The University of Northampton is looking to contract a Creative Agency to create a 49-month creative strategy and campaign. We are seeking a campaign that is unique to UON and is not derivative of UK HE advertising campaigns. The contract opportunity will run across three and a half recruitment cycles 2024 (mid cycle campaign) 2025, 2026 and 2027. The core objective is to drive visitors to the University website to register to visit for a campus open day, where they can find out more about courses, the university campus, the town of Northampton and the benefits and opportunities of studying with us. The core resulting objective is to increase brand awareness and increase year-on-year applications and recruitment of students across Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses. The campaign will primarily be aimed at Home Students (those located within the United Kingdom), however some elements may be picked up and developed further by our International Team. Should this incur any work for the successful agency this will fall outside this contract's value. Until August 2022 we worked on a campaign that has been very different to the traditional, HE approaches focussing on what the youth market engages with rather than what traditionally the sector believes they will engage with. The UON Marketing Team are seeking a creative agency who can develop an overarching strategy across all touchpoints that creatively evolves during the contract period to develop the campaign and take it to the next level. We are looking for a brand campaign that will resonate with a predominantly youth audience but can also be tailored to target other key audiences such as those looking to study a Postgraduate qualification, returners to education and parents and influencers. We feel that we are in a strong position from a brand awareness perspective and want our future strategy to build upon this success. The campaign strategy should encompass all campaign touchpoints and demonstrate messaging and visual development throughout the cycle across the duration of the campaign period. For the strategy we would expect the agency to use University supplied data, alongside sector and audience insights to develop the campaign, this should be a continuous process as insights and data may change throughout the contract period. We would expect the agency to have a clear understanding of the target audiences and application touchpoints which need to be reflected in all messaging and imagery used. The strategy and campaign messaging will need to work across multiple channels which will include advertising assets, a video content strategy to include deliverables ,on campus open day visuals, Exhibition materials, Prospectus and other communications such as direct mail and event handouts. For our advertising this will include display and social channel assets, a commercial/ video content which will be used across including VOD, YouTube and audio content which can be across radio and audio platforms. All content produced will need to be targeted to the audience which will include undergraduate and postgraduate targeting. The contracted creative agency should offer strong account management skills and work closely with the UON Marketing Team. This should include clear communication and the ability to manage multiple projects whilst working to a supplied media schedule to ensure all deadlines are met whilst ensuring that budget allocation and spend is monitored. Contract value £300,000. The contract shall be for a period of 49 months (July 2023 – August 2027) with the possibility entirely at the University’s discretion for up to an 18 month extension at a value of £100,000. Additional information: Tender is published on https://in-tendhost.co.uk/universityofnorthampton/. Please register your organisation, once registration is accepted you can access the tender documents.Contract value in II.1.5 and II.2.6 is an estimate of £300000 for the initial contract length.The University envisages entering a 49 month contract with the option to extend the contract up to a further 18 months.