Young people love gear. Sporty gear, arty gear, techy gear. So we used their love of gear and their attraction to it, to match them to a career they’d also love.

We created a series of twelve floor stickers that were filled with gear from different study areas. Potential students could step onto the stickers and be surrounded by the tools for twelve different careers. Once they found one they liked, they could upload a picture of it to Instagram and tag it #ECUOpenDay. It was then that ECU surprised them by commenting directly on their image and letting them know which stall to visit at Open Day to find out more about their chosen career.

In this way, a love of gear become the starting point for a conversation about careers; a conversation that started on Instagram and continued at Open Day.

Gear love became career love.

Using our insight that the gear you love might lead you to a career you love, we created a series of twelve floor decals for train stations, each displaying gear from different careers. The decals were in place for a fortnight in the lead up to Open Day. The placement of the decals meant that people had time to dwell on the gear, and the futures it could lead to, before selecting their favourite.

Asking people to upload a career they liked meant we could help them get the right information and go to the right place at Open Day. It also meant that their friends on Instagram got to find out about ECU Open Day.

Open Day attendance increased by over 4000 people from the previous year. The campaign received over 3400 likes and #ECUOpenDay saw a 950% increase in use.