Bring Your A Game - South Essex Colleges Group
Sixth form Launch Campaign Thurrock College
01. Context
South Essex Colleges Group (SECG) launched a brand-new A Level provision at Thurrock College — a campus traditionally associated with vocational learning. The goal was to position Thurrock as a serious academic choice for high-achieving students and parents in the region, including those choosing between school sixth forms and specialist A Level pathways.
The challenge:
There were no existing brand assets, no A Level identity for the campus, and only a very small budget to introduce and establish an entirely new academic offering.
I stepped in as Creative Strategist to build a campaign that would:
- articulate Thurrock College as a strong A Level provider
- differentiate it from school sixth forms
- persuade a sceptical parent audience
- resonate with ambitious Gen Z students
- generate real enrolments with minimal resource
02. The Challenge
Three major constraints shaped the project:
1. A brand-new provision with no creative identity
There were no photos, no student stories, no footage, and no real creative assets to work from.
2. Strict SECG brand guidelines
The creative needed to feel fresh — but still sit under a tightly controlled Group identity.
3. A very limited budget
The total budget could not stretch across both production and paid media.
The behavioural tension was clear:
Students want aspiration and identity. Parents want safety, maturity and pathways. Both audiences had to be addressed with almost no assets.
03. The Insight
With no production budget available, the insight became:
“If we cannot show the environment, we must show the mindset the environment is designed to shape.”
Gen Z respond to:
- ambition
- achievement
- identity
- challenge
- emotional relevance
Parents respond to:
- structure
- maturity cues
- academic credibility
- clarity of outcome
The unifying insight:
“A Levels at Thurrock College must feel like a step forward, not a safety net.”
04. The Strategy
Creative Direction
I reframed the campaign around a high-performance mindset to compensate for the lack of assets and to position A Levels at Thurrock as a step towards maturity, ambition and future progression.
The creative direction centred on motivation, identity and aspiration, using dynamic storytelling to cut through a crowded sixth-form landscape.
Strategic Budget Decision
With a very limited budget, I made a deliberate strategic choice:
- Invest fully in targeted paid social distribution
- Leverage high-impact, minimal-production creative assets
This ensured maximum visibility with the most relevant audiences rather than diluting results through low-budget production.
Audience Approach
I built a dual-pathway structure:
- One communication thread designed to resonate with ambitious young learners seeking progression
- Another designed to build confidence and clarity among parents evaluating post-16 options
Each pathway spoke directly to the emotional and practical drivers influencing decisions.
Creative Rollout
The campaign opened with a high-energy hero video designed to establish momentum and emotional resonance.
This was followed by reinforcement assets that consolidated the narrative, sharpened the proposition and strengthened intent.
Narrative Core
Bring Your A Game. Study A Levels at Thurrock College.
A simple, memorable positioning that gave the new provision a clear identity, without relying on facilities or existing visuals.
05. The Creative
Hero Asset: Motivational Short-Form Video
Because there were no shoot assets, I developed a generic high-performance video using victory moments across different sports.
Why sports?
Because the emotional parallels — discipline, ambition, striving, excellence — are universally recognisable.
This reframed the offer as a mindset shift, not an advertisement.
Parent-Facing Assets (LinkedIn)
- clean static ads
- university-like environment cues
- emphasis on maturity and academic outcomes
Paid Social Optimisation
All formats were built specifically for paid delivery:
- 9:16 video
- 16:9 and 4:5 static ads
- short CTA-led variants
The campaign was optimised weekly based on performance signals.
06. The Results
Despite strict brand guidelines, limited assets and a very small budget, the campaign achieved: 75% enrolment on the brand new A Level & T Level courses at Thurrock College, surpassing the target of 60% capacity. This is an estimated £918,900 LTV for all students on the Sixth form provision including both A Levels & T Levels.
The campaign became the foundation of Thurrock College’s academic identity, paving the way for future Sixth form recruitment cycles.
07. What We Learned
When creative assets are limited, narrative strength becomes the differentiator.
A powerful idea, a clear behavioural insight and smart budget allocation can outperform high production value — especially with tightly targeted paid social.
