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ECU was preparing to open its new City Campus in the heart of Perth. The brief was not just to announce a new campus, but to help prospective students emotionally place themselves in what studying in an inner-city environment would actually feel like.
The challenge was twofold:
Move beyond familiar “campus hype reels” that focus on facilities but fail to capture lived experience.
Communicate location as a genuine benefit, blending education with lifestyle, culture, and the everyday rhythms of city life.
This meant treating Perth not just as a backdrop, but as part of the learning experience itself.
The strategy centred on experience-led storytelling, rather than traditional destination or campus marketing.
Key strategic decisions included:
Framing the City Campus as a gateway to the city, not a self-contained bubble.
Designing content around distinct student lifestyle personas, allowing different audiences to see themselves reflected.
Creating a hero film supported by multiple short-form social pieces, each optimised for a specific mood, location, and behaviour.
A critical creative device was introduced early: a “secret message” handover. Each student passes a small, personal prompt or message to the next, leading viewers through different parts of the city and different experiences. This created continuity across locations while keeping the storytelling human and intimate.
The main production challenge was logistical: coordinating multiple students, locations, and time-of-day moments across the city while maintaining narrative flow.
Rather than positioning the campus as “new” or “state-of-the-art,” the messaging focused on what studying there unlocks.
Studying in the city is about more than lectures — it’s about access, movement, discovery, and independence.
Learning happens both inside and outside the classroom.
Every student’s experience of the city is different, and that’s the point.
The repeated line “Don’t just study” acted as a flexible anchor, allowing each piece of content to interpret the message differently depending on context: beach, laneways, galleries, markets, nightlife, or quiet reflective moments.
The visual treatment was deliberately observational and cinematic, avoiding overt branding or overly polished “promo” language.
Creative principles included:
Natural light, real locations, and authentic student presence.
A mix of movement and stillness to reflect different modes of city life.
Subtle transitions and handovers between students to create a sense of shared discovery.
Editorial framing that felt closer to travel or lifestyle storytelling than traditional education content.
A detailed visual treatment and storyboard were developed upfront to align ECU stakeholders before production, ensuring clarity across a complex shoot while leaving space for organic moments to emerge.
Deliverables included:
• Two individual Student Story videos
• One amalgamated Student Story video
• Supporting photography and social-media-ready assets for further use
