When working on a new project what's the typical process from brief to creation?

Each campaign we create is unique, so the process is very rarely exactly the same. However, one common theme is collaboration. The team around us at Crowd have a huge amount of experience in the Student Market so it's always great to bounce creative ideas around and find the balance between the needs of the brand and the student journey. 

Once a range of concepts are discussed we need to put these to the test by creating visuals. To ensure that we’re all on the same page it’s really useful to get the members of the team to draw out initial sketches for us to evolve it into a full mock up. After that it’s time for us to bring it to life!

Do you have any tips for brands on the best way to make their campaign stand out in a busy campus environment? 

Fun, food and finishing touches - it's all in the detail. Student’s love experiences and receiving treats so this is always a massive plus point for a campaign. When picking your giveaways do a bit of research on current trends to see what students actually want.

Secondly, everything needs to be driven by the student journey. Our campaigns often benefit from creating a competitive or gamified element, so making sure that it’s clear and obvious what the draw of the activation is, will be really beneficial to when the whole campaign is being activated.

Finally, be smart with the space. For a lot of our campaigns we are confined to a 2 x 2 metre pitch, but this doesn't mean you need to scale back on everything.

Are there any common pitfalls that you would suggest brands be wary of?

Don’t compromise on quality. At Crowd we are able to work with any budget, however, I don’t think low budget has to mean low quality. There are really cost effective solutions to make sure that your brand stands out, a generic roller banner and tablecloth on a trestle table just doesn’t cut it anymore. 

My next point is to avoid overcomplicating things. Ensuring that there is real clarity in the campaign messaging so students know what the brand and campaign is about seems a really simple point, but can often be overlooked. Often, you only have a few seconds to get this message across, so it has to be simple and accurate.

Over your time at Crowd are there any particular activations that stand out for you?

Obviously I love them all! But I thought the Lee Kum Kee Freshers tour was a great campaign. We worked really closely with the client on all aspects, from campaign concept to creative design and then finally to the build itself. In the end, it was a visual delight with fun assets to work with and the end result embraced everything Lee Kum Kee stands for.

Fancy giving your student campaign a revamp? We’d love to help! Why not drop us a line..