WALK TO THE FUTURE

TitleWALK TO THE FUTURE
BrandUNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP
Product/ServiceUNIVERSITY
Category B03. Use of Print / Outdoor
Entrant WUNDERMAN THOMPSON Antwerp, BELGIUM
Idea Creation WUNDERMAN THOMPSON Antwerp, BELGIUM
Media Placement WUNDERMAN THOMPSON Antwerp, BELGIUM
Media Placement 2 WAVEMAKER Waasmunster, BELGIUM
Production WUNDERMAN THOMPSON Antwerp, BELGIUM
Production 2 BV PLAYAR Tessenderlo, BELGIUM
Production 3 RABBITHOLE Antwerp, BELGIUM
Credits
Name Company Position
Pieter Staes Wunderman Thompson Creative Director
Manuel Ostyn Wunderman Thompson Creative Director
Tomas Van Loon Creation Creative
Patrick Vermeylen Wunderman Thompson Creative
Matthias Berghmans Wunderman Thompson 3D designer
Bas Vaerewyck Wunderman Thompson 3D designer
Kenny Smet Wunderman Thompson Designer
Ynje Degaeve Wunderman Thompson Designer
Andreas De Ridder Wunderman Thompson Motion Design & Editing
Theo Hagtingius Wunderman Thompson DTP
Jan-Bart Debruyne Wunderman Thompson DTP
Lynn Pinsart Wunderman Thompson copywriter
Tine Sinnaeve Wunderman Thompson copywriter
Joeri Quinet Wunderman Thompson copywriter
Evert Van den Broeck Wunderman Thompson Strategy Planner
Dimitri De Lauw Wunderman Thompson Strategic Director
Caroline Bogaerts Wunderman Thompson Performance Marketer
Basel Alakkad Wunderman Thompson Performance marketer
Stephanie Katic Wunderman Thompson Account Director
Valérie Rosiers Wunderman Thompson Account Manager
Ingeborg Van Hoof Wunderman Thompson Agency Producer
Thijs Ter Haar Wunderman Thompson UX/ UI Designer
Jesse Debruyckere Wunderman Thompson Developer
Arnout Deville Wunderman Thompson Chief Thechnology Officer
Bruno Dejonghe Playar Studio founder & executive producer
Bram Van Rompaey RabbitHole Animation RabbitHole Animation

Why is this work relevant for Media?

‘Walk to the Future’ is an innovative and interactive way to inspire students to ‘help shape the future’, which is the university’s baseline. By scanning our billboards students could bring the future to life in AR and discover what the world of tomorrow could look like, while discovering the best spots around campus. Each billboard also invited them to our e-info day where they could enroll at UAntwerp, the first step in turning this augmented reality into actual reality.

Background

Every year, all universities organize an open day. A perfect moment to invite people to campus and convince them it’s the perfect place to come and get their academic degree. UAntwerp always takes this opportunity to show they are a creative and innovative university. But at the same time these open days are a great way to highlight another benefit of UAntwerp: their location. As Antwerp is one of the most vibrant cities in the country and a perfect place to live as a student. But this year, all universities had to cancel their open days due to corona. So, how could we show future students all these benefits without them visiting our campus?

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

In times of corona, one of the last things people were still allowed to do, is go for a walk. So, when all universities had to cancel their open days, UAntwerp turned theirs into a city walk. We put five billboards with future news headlines on five city hotspots. After scanning the billboards people brought this news to life in augmented reality, while they discovered the best spots around campus. Our billboards showed how today’s students can change the world of tomorrow. After scanning, every billboard also turned into an invitation to our e-info day where they could enroll at UAntwerp, the first step in turning this augmented reality into actual reality.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

UAntwerp is a creative and innovative university. This vision translates in their huge amount of scientific research and in the way they teach their classes. Because they want students to use knowledge as a tool to ‘help shape the future’, which is the university’s baseline. We wanted to bring this baseline to life and show the next generation of students how they can actually have a huge impact on the world of tomorrow. And when the ‘open day’ got canceled due to corona, the university decided to organize an e-info day. But this alone isn’t enough to inspire the students of tomorrow. So, we wanted to show them what UAntwerp stands for while showing them that Antwerp is also a very nice place to live as a student. All this, to convince them to visit for our e-info day where they could enroll at UAntwerp.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

To bring the future to life, we used augmented reality. Not just as a filter, but as a direct link between the world of tomorrow and today’s reality. Because every scan brought to life an inspiring future that was linked to that exact location. For example, next to city hall where couples get married, we put a billboard with the headline: Belgium recognizes marriage with androids. When scanning the billboard people could pose next to an android bride in front of city hall. Quite intriguing ‘news’ for potential law students, product development students, ICT potentials, … To get people moving, influencers took the walk and shared their experience on social media. We also put up posters in high schools. By scanning the poster, students brought to life a polar bear in AR who announced the walk while giving them a teasing preview.

List the results (30% of vote)

Within a week, the billboards were scanned more than 1.700 times. This got people talking. With more than 8,5 million media impressions, we reached over 3.5 million people, of which 15% was organic. The campaign got PR coverage in Belgium’s most important newspapers and perception of the university as being innovative grew with 8%. During the campaign online searches for UAntwerp increased with 111%. All resulting in 19% more leads to the e-info day and 12,5% more university entries compared to the previous year.