When it came to Monash University’s 2019 recruitment campaign we were faced with a huge challenge: how do we get graduating high school students to apply to Monash when they were being bombarded by messages from other universities?

While other universities were chasing quotas of enrolments, Monash University needed to recruit young people who shared our philosophy of making positive change.

Our solution was to bring a future of inaction to life for people to experience today – in all its dystopian and provocative glory. We introduced students to A FUTURE WITHOUT CHANGE: a glimpse into what our world could become if we merely adapt to the issues we face instead of changing them.

With the help of each faculty, we created 17 products that shouldn’t exist – each based on a real problem that Monash researchers are working to solve, as well as courses students can study to help make change.

Digital OOH, online films and social posts featuring our products drove students to our activation events, one held at our campus and another at Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne. Here they experienced the physical products in custom-built environments and further interacted with them through an immersive VR experience.

At a time when universities were bombarding students with messages to join them, Monash University needed to stand out for their 2019 recruitment campaign.

We noticed that most of our competitors all promise the same thing: an idealistic future. But society isn’t creating the world these institutions are selling. In fact, the future looks less promising than ever.

So, Monash decided that it was time to get real. Rather than candy coat the future, we would show what it would look like if we all sat back and let it run its course.

But it wouldn’t be all doom and gloom. Monash is actively committed to solving some of these tough challenges and it was this underlying message of hope that we wanted to convey to encourage students to join us in changing the future for the better.

The storytelling began before the experience itself, in the form of online videos and digital OOH that introduced prospective students to the ideas within A FUTURE WITHOUT CHANGE.

Once at the event visitors could engage in the ideas through audio visual installations, smart mirrors, audio integrated into mock medical procedures, physical installations as well as a VR space where 10 of the different products and services came to life through the experience of a possible future.

By bringing products to life in up five different touch points - such as the Anti-Depresso’s cereal in film, OOH, product, activation, and VR - there were many entry points to the ideas as well as an ease of exploration through the different ways their stories were realised.

By using this approach the whole experience became immersive and naturally provided for an individual to explore what resonated with them the most out of the 17 products brought to life in up to five different ways. Furthermore, this sense of ‘choose your own adventure’ allowed people to respond authentically to the space. Be that through an interest in audio visuals, or virtual reality experiences.

To ensure relevance to Monash University each of the 17 future products had an issue that Monash researchers were actively working to, to ensure to the best of their ability that this future will not become real.

In total two events were held, with digital OOH and social films used in bursts to drive traffic before each.

By showing a future that shouldn’t exist, we helped recruit and inspire the next generation to change it.

• Over 12,000 people engaged across two activations.

• We reached a concentrated target audience of 95K through social videos and posts.

• Preliminary results from our Open Day activation showed that 24.6% of student visitors registered to a faculty.

• This resulted in our most successful recruitment campaign ever, making Monash the No.1 Preference University in the country.

Over and above all the KPIs and numbers, Monash was able to continue to draw that line in the sand between what they stood for, and what the safe territory the rest of the category was playing in. A FUTURE WITHOUT CHANGE made it clear that Monash isn’t looking for students, they’re rallying people who share their passion for changing the world for the better.