THE BRIEF

Kingston University is a post-92 institution and therefore relies on Clearing where 25% of its students are recruited.

For 2021, the main objective of the Clearing campaign was to positively contribute to Kingston meeting its UG2021 YOE Clearing recruitment targets, and the below states the digital media campaign objectives to contribute towards this.

• Increase Call now Clearing button clicks (clicks to phone number on the landing page) by 20% YOY
• Increase call from ads on google and YouTube by 20% YOY
• Increase Clearing form completion (Clearing open days and call back forms) by 20% YOY
• Increase all other micro-conversions such as Clearing clicks to ‘apply by’ 20% YOY

STRATEGY

Education Cubed worked with Kingston University to determine its primary target audience as the starting point for planning. Research commissioned from DataHE strongly indicated a recruitment risk if Kingston did not increase their recruitment from 18-year-olds as the population change and entry rate to University at 18 will significantly increase post-2020, especially in London where Kingston is located. Kingston, at the time, was significantly under-represented amongst 18-year-olds and therefore did not want to rely only on mature learners as entry rate forecasts for older age groups in Kingston’s catchment were more uncertain.

The campaign was also planned to be split across five key phases: Pre-Clearing, Clearing (UCAS opens), Results Day, Results week, and Post Clearing. We planned each phase to have its own objectives allowing us to align KPIs to each phase, facilitate creative refreshes to avoid user burnout, stagger the budget according to length and extend the campaign if required without increasing the budget.

WHY IT WORKS

The campaign was planned to be split across five key phases: Pre-Clearing, Clearing (UCAS opens), Results Day, Results week, and Post Clearing. We planned each phase to have its own objectives allowing us to align KPIs to each phase, facilitate creative refreshes to avoid user burnout, stagger the budget according to length and extend the campaign if required without increasing the budget.

RESULTS

• We achieved an increase of 127% on the KUL target of 2,118, with 4,808 calls made to their Clearing hotline

• The campaign exceeded the target 20% increase on measurable KPIs and conversions across Google Search, Facebook/Instagram, and YouTube.