The pace of this project is the thing that deserves unpicking here. In a sector where brand projects can often be slow and weighed down by internal processes, our work with BU progressed with a delicate balance of ambition, efficiency, and a laser focus on delivery. The momentum that carried the project came from the trust that the Marketing & Comms team at BU placed in the process, and from a leadership team willing to be decisive, open and genuinely collaborative. We spoke with leaders from across the university, gaining a true sense of purpose and permission to be bold, adding to the shared sense that this was the right moment to act and drive forward at pace. 

We began by running a Basecamp with the Bournemouth University team, spending three days embedded on the South coast, balancing two days of intensive workshopping with time on campus, to pressure-test and ultimately deliver a single organising narrative. This acted as the catalyst for everything that followed. The shared momentum and collaborative spirit established in those early sessions enabled rapid development across visual and verbal identity, brand guidelines, prospectus design and editorial, academic interviews and campaign work, largely carried out in the two months either side of Christmas. Working closely with the core marketing team, students and senior leadership including the VC and COO we were able to turn collective ownership into alignment and delivery at pace.

For us, this project highlighted what becomes possible when momentum is treated as something to be actively designed into processes, not managed away – genuine collaboration accelerated processes, rather than ever becoming consultation or committee-led. The clarity that we reached through Basecamp carried through the rest of the work, with the words that came from the session not only shaping the brand, but appearing on the pages of the BU2035 strategy itself. 

The speed and pride with which the new brand has launched has taken us – and perhaps some of the team at BU – slightly by surprise, but really, after what we’ve learned over the last few months, should we have expected any less? 

We’re proud to have shaped that journey alongside the Bournemouth University team, and as with the strategy it supports, this is very much a beginning rather than a conclusion. Full case study to follow soon.

Thank you to Matt Usher, Mark Humphrys, Fiona Macdonald, Hollye McKenzie, Alison Honour, Gerry Greyling.