Campaigns in the heart of Winchester

What does it mean, to be a Pilgrim?

In the very heart of Winchester, The Pilgrims’ School is something of a hidden gem. It’s almost hard to believe that in a bustling town centre, secluded behind old walls, a whole school could exist – especially one with sprawling grounds, boarding houses and a host of modern facilities. The Rooster team was commissioned to explore the branding and messaging of the school, develop a theme and then capture it with art direction and photography. These assets were glued together with focused copywriting, for use across digital media and print – creating a consistent brand message everywhere.

Our art director and copywriter explored the essence of the school, taking into account its heritage, prime location and ethos. In the end, it came down to what being a Pilgrim really means; expressing the values of the school through words and imagery. The concept ‘To be a Pilgrim’ began to take shape, using simple messaging and striking visuals to show how the school approaches education.

Headlines like ‘To be Nurtured’ and ‘To be Curious’ prefix the ‘To be a Pilgrim’ strapline, alongside a corresponding image. All photography for the campaign is original, directed, captured and edited by Rooster at The Pilgrims’ School. Our designers then created a series of multichannel marketing assets – advertorial, print and digital ads, email templates and social media collateral included.

In addition, a promotional video for the school was directed, shot and edited by us, continuing in the spirit of the campaign. The video is currently being used on the Pilgrims’ website and on social media, where the Rooster team creates and manages ads for the school.

Photography

Rooster’s unique approach to photography has helped to reveal the wonder and brilliance of this school for boys. Through bespoke, art directed photography, we tell the story of a school where nurturing curiosity and shaping bright futures are a top priority.

Digital and physical marketing

We continue to strategise and run integrated digital and print marketing campaigns, stemming from our initial concept, brand development and copy. All communications are on-brand, optimised for their setting and made to stick with the right audience. Our design and digital marketing teams created email templates and social media assets that marry perfectly with our print campaigns – giving this independent school a complete and consistent marketing strategy.

Print

Rooster created and placed print ads for local and national magazines, at train stations and on promotional fliers. These ads feature the double-whammy of original, visually arresting photography and our punchy copy. The ads have been well received – and the quality of the promotional fliers has completely exceeded the client’s expectations.

Advertising

With targeted Facebook audiences, we created campaigns for open days aimed at getting more admissions in for the new school year. The ads highlight everything that makes the school different, with a focus on pre-prep ages. Targeting parameters included parents of children aged 3-12, interested in private schools, within 20km of Winchester.

Combined, our open day campaigns reached over 47,000 people. The first campaign used assets provided by Pilgrims’ while we finalised our photography, reaching 19,000 individuals. A second campaign, using assets created by Rooster, improved on this by 47%. We reduced the CPC by 50% for their latest campaign and increased the CTR by 50%.

The end result? Pilgrims’ experienced an excellent turnout to their open day events – and unprecedented demand for their admissions team.