Brighton College | Schools Marketing

Brighton has an established reputation as innovator in the education sector and must surely rank as the most forward-thinking school in Britain. Its progressive approach has, amongst other things, helped to achieve stellar academic success and make it the highest achieving co-ed school in the country.

It has also attracted recognition from numerous quarters including The Sunday Times who named it ‘School of the Decade’, describing Brighton as ‘’One of the hottest tickets in Independent Education’’.

Perhaps not surprisingly the school’s thoughts on advertising start with a desire to avoid the stereotypes that dominate the sector.

Our new campaign, running in press and outdoor is an attempt to transcend the usual category conventions whilst still accurately communicating the values of the brand and its growing number of overseas campuses.

The strategy recognises that parents and advisors of potential pupils are all acutely aware of the grades achieved by top performing schools. Therefore, with that box firmly ticked Brighton can afford to focus on other differentiators such as the pupil experience and development of life-skills, something that is of great importance to universities and employers.

The Brighton campus screams ‘’boutique hotel‘’ almost as much as it does ‘’school’’. Avantgarde architecture, trendy spaces, designer furniture and lots of art reflect an institution that wholly reflects the local community which in turn is alternative, edgy, and eclectic.

Whilst we wanted to ‘break the mould’, avoiding the cliched images of blazers, hockey sticks and students in lab coats, we wanted to do so in a way that still maintains relevance and is true to the personality of the school and its values.

The creative solution attempts to connect with both parents and prospective pupils by highlighting soft skills such as the development of independent thought, critical thinking and tolerance, but at the same time, projecting a fun and enjoyable experience with a nod to the end of the pier shlock – a sign of a school that is at the cutting edge but doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Various influences helped to shape the final look and feel of the campaign, which takes its palette from seaside tradition and mixes it with an art directional style that echoes Warhol and messaging that focusses on the school’s philosophy of celebrating the individual.