Photography, Communication Creative, Excellence Winner
The Shining- Reasearch Stars 2010
Office of Vice-President (Research), Division of Marketing and Communications, David Howells Photography
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John’s, Canada
Contents:
PROJECT SUMMARY
- The unniversity's annual research report is a public accountability document assesing and reporting the university's research funding in 2009-2010 fiscal year. The period covered by this report is the fiscal year of April 2009-March 2010, and was released in June 2010.
- The creative concept for the report was built from one prevailing fact that was unique for this reporting year. Memorial's research in 2009-2010 had strong and interesting personalities at its core- Research Stars who were changing Memorial's reputation in their respective fields nationally and internationally.
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Intended Audience(s)
Opinion leaders, specifically:
- Federal and provincial governments officials, particuarly those involved in federal funding agencies, Canada Research Chairs, Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
- CEOs and R&D directors within private businesses in Canada who are looking for a place to further develop their business ideas.
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Goals and Objectives
Positioning: To create a report that positions Memorial as one of Canada's leading reasearch universities..as a key player. In the 1990's Memorial reputation may not have been tied as directly to research, but by 2005-10, Memorial had seen dramatic research growth and a number of very compelling stories in research. Now, Memorial was clearly part of the research milieu in Canada and that something big was brewing in Memorial.
Compelling storytelling: To stand out against other research reports and similiar materials, Memorial used an unorthodox creative concept, homage to popular culture, language uncommon for the product category of 'university research', spectacular photography, and creative movie ideas that were proactive and interesting.
A consistent and powerful theme: Readers and viewers of the report should be left with a sense of the broad impact research at Memorial has on many communities, and that Memorial researchers are stars. Reinforcing the idea through a repetition of the theme and use of movie images consistently (and in a book, that frankly, out of context, may seem a little unusual) was paramount.
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KEY MESSAGES/THEMES
- Traditionally, Memorial has developed annual reports and research reports that are unorthodox and irreverent. In particular, since 2007, each report has had a creative concept that draws on a particular cultural notion or idea. Themes including postcards, dictionaries, novels and even comic book heroes have been part of the oeuvre of Memorial's brand communications.
- The theme for 2010 was built around highlighting the shining stars of Memorial's research- showing them as real people and highlighting the details of their research in a digestible and interesting manner. Some of the creative movie concepts included The Matrix (for a mathematician with expertise in matrices), Ocean's Sixteen (for $16 million in ocean research funding), and Lost in Translation (for research in preserving the Cayuga language).
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ICREATIVE RATIONALE
Part of the creative mantra of the team was to develop a compelling concept, sell it to the VP Research, and then keep the concept alive throughout the entire report. That meant:
- A clever movie title concept for each of the 21 researchers.
- Photography that was unexpected and at a level that drew the reader to take notice and be charmed by the photos themselves: effectively, the concept lived or died with the quality and consistency of the photos.
- Storylines that resonated with the researchers' areas of expertise and connected with each movie concept.
- Nuances in each story that reinforced the movie motif.
- Components at the beginning of the report (financial section entitled The Colour of Money) to keep the idea alive.
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Results
- Budget estimate: $95,00, developed in house. Photography sub-contracted.
- Quantity: 2,500 (May, 2010). Reprint (November 2010): 15,000
- Correspondence has been received from key audience members with unequivocal positive feedback about the publication.
- In addition to positive feedback, two national publications- The National Post (a Canadian national newspaper) and University Affairs (the leading post-secondary publication in Canada)- wrote feature articles about the report. The National Post story was a full-page, full-colour feature.
- Resounding support for the project continues to grow from the university's senior executive and governing bodies. (Senate, Board of Regents), as measured in budgetary allocation for the effort. The Shining has become one of the university's most high profile promotional publications, and many other university units reguarly use it to highlight the university's innovative people, work and accomplishments.
- From 2002 to 2008 the research income at Memorial has reached over $90 million in 2009 to 2010; an increase of over 116.7%; the largest percentage increase in research funding in that time period for any major university in Canada. While it would be an overstatement to attribute this increase to the development and production of Memorial's reputation through its reports, it would equally be wrong to assume that the enhanced profile of Memorial University and its research is not a contributing factor.
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