Royal Holloway University of London
PhD ABBA
How can I combine
what I love with what
is expected of me?
Challenge
Royal Holloway, University of London, wanted to inspire the next generation of Global Majority students to go to university, and create marketing videos that celebrated changing demographics and challenged the old stereotypes about being an un-diverse, home counties university.
Outcome
Recognising the power of personal stories, we created a series of documentary films celebrating the experiences of Global Majority students. The second film explores Shanika’s journey to a fulfilling postgraduate career – a story designed to appeal to more applicants like her.
What happened?
The film became a conversation starter between Royal Holloway and prospective students at inner-city schools through school visits and classroom conversations. By taking Global Majority students’ worries seriously and featuring them in stories of triumph, the documentary format helped Royal Holloway challenge old stereotypes about being an un-diverse, home counties university, and, most importantly, create new connections and a new brand identity with potential students.
Service
Director
Interviewer
Camera Operator
Editor
Two films were made in the series
Discovery
Student marketing videos often look the same. Royal Holloway knows this – they’ve made a lot of them. These videos typically include a few students saying why they like their course played over pretty shots of the campus. We’ve seen that video a million times and so we switch off. Hardly inspiring.
More importantly, these videos gloss over the anguish students face when choosing a university. This leaves prospective students feeling unheard.
So by not recognising that students’ stories are worth telling, the university fails to capitalise on its most powerful recruiting asset.
Our students are inspirational
Their stories are the best way to show that inspiration thrives at Royal Holloway
Developing the strategy
Royal Holloway knew the best people to speak about the experience of being an ethnically diverse student in a UK university are the students themselves. Through an open casting call to the student body, and a series of informal chats, we identified students with unique stories who were also engaging storytellers. Shanika stood out.
Defining the story
Over two facilitated story sessions, Shanika and I found the emotional core of her story – how can I assimilate to uni life without losing who I am? This is a real and relatable problem. And so, the story became about balancing Shanika’s passion for ABBA with doing what her parents and tutors thought was best for her.
Understanding the audience
Choosing a university is a huge decision. Many Global Majority students are the first in their family to go to university and so there can be a lot of added pressure to make the right choice. Building this reality into our narrative meant we could focus the story on candidates’ experiences and create something that spoke directly to them.
Switching the focus has narrative power. Rather than expressly stating the qualities of the university, those qualities are strongly implied by hearing directly from students who have flourished there.
It felt like chatting with a friend who I'd known for a while, rather than a filmmaker. There was real genuine warmth and flow of conversation and although some of what I said was unfamiliar to Bill, he was able to react and adapt to what I was saying with his questions.
"
Shanika Ranasinghe, PhD Music Student | Royal Holloway
Bill asked the kind of thoughtful questions
I always wished people asked me.