Our Student Art Pass campaign targeted a notoriously elusive audience - university students - at a time of year when many brands vie for their attention and they’re subjected to thousands of student offers on university campuses and via traditional advertising channels. Our campaign cut through this clutter through use of a powerful insight and with work that was relevant to them and their lives, ultimately inspiring a new generation to buy a Student Art Pass and see more art.

Launched in 2017, the Student Art Pass offers free entry to over 240 museums and galleries across the country, 50% off major exhibitions and access to paid work opportunities. All for £5. A total no brainer for university students around the UK – if only they knew about it. Our task was to create a campaign that would drive national awareness and sales. Our objective was to do so in an entertaining, relevant and shareable fashion for a highly targeted audience of 18-24 year olds.

To answer the brief, we brought in four university students to develop a campaign for students, created by students. They arrived on the insight that, like film or music, you do not need to be an expert to enjoy art. Art can simply have an effect on how we feel. Any response is legitimate – there is no right or wrong. Our students landed on the concept ‘No Expertise Needed’. We showed works of art which students would be able to see with their passes alongside incongruous ‘non-expert’ reactions from students, borrowing the typical uni vernacular.

Our target audience was university students in the UK. We knew the pass would appeal to those studying art (fine art, applied art, art history etc.), but we also wanted to reach those studying other subjects too (including humanities and sciences).

Driving appeal amongst this notoriously elusive audience wouldn’t be easy. We heard in interviews that for younger people without much experience of seeing art, galleries could feel overly serious and intimidating – knowledge was needed to understand art. To drive sales we would need to present art as accessible to anyone.

Working with students on their summer break, tied us to very tight timings creatively. Within a five-day schedule they were introduced to the agency, briefed, attended creative reviews and client reviews then ultimately presented to senior marketing partners. They were supported by a junior creative team who worked closely with the students to mentor and help develop their work. The production deadline coincided with the start of University freshers weeks, and resulted in poster and email assets to be displayed and deployed around campuses nationwide, with select student ambassadors then promoting the pass both in person and via their social media channels.

• Universities, influencers and students talked about the campaign.

• Google searches for “Student Art Pass” peaked in line with our campaign.

• We sold 19,055 art passes over the campaign period, a 60% increase from the previous year’s sales (11,964).

• We reached a broad range of students, not just those studying art. 29% of sales came from humanities students (history, philosophy etc.) and 9% were STEM subject students (science, technology, engineering and maths). Sales were spread across 196 UK universities.