Inviting and including everyone

The Royal College of Art is a global leader in postgraduate art and design. However, this reputation has led to (unfounded) connotations of elitism, which may be off-putting to students from non-traditional backgrounds. They needed a recruitment campaign that would drive applications, challenge these misconceptions and further diversify their student body.  

A tighter budget meant we needed to prioritise RCA’s online activity, without relying on a single market. We worked with their portfolio of agencies to develop a strategic and sustainable approach to marketing. This was informed by a wealth of data, both from RCA and our own tool, Student Market Insights, which we used to identify global trends, risks and opportunities.  

Based on our research, we decided to focus our activity on the UK, ASEAN markets, India and the USA; specifically those regions with an above-average number of potential students. We also looked at brand awareness and used that to inform the creative development, which hinged around a single brand idea.   

In partnership with the RCA’s creative agency, we developed a strategy to nurture candidates through the pipeline, reducing attrition. We analysed over a million lines of data modelling decision trees to build a clear understanding of potential students and how they engage with the enrolment process. According to the RCA, this has saved them over £50m in potential attrition.  

Thanks to our campaign, the RCA has seen some fantastic results, including: 

• 84% of potential students thinking more positively about the RCA 
• 41% increase in enrolments  
• 47% growth in tuition fee revenue.