BEHIND THE SCENES
Revealing Cambridge University's economic impact
Early 2023, the University of Cambridge got in touch with us. They needed to tell the world something very important through a new film, but couldn’t find the right words.
People everywhere know the University of Cambridge for its world-leading teaching and research. But few know the immense contributions it makes to the UK economy, and number of jobs it supports. Sharing this information, especially with Government, is crucial for the university as it continues to carry out its mission – to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
Asked to write the script for a film highlighting facts and figures from the university’s economic impact report, created by London Economics, we focused on three main areas of language. First, we created a narrative arc to take a viewer from what they know about the university through key report findings the university wanted to reveal. We then introduced withholding – so rather than giving all the ‘hero’ numbers up front, we held some back to keep a viewer engaged throughout the two minutes. Finally, we used a series of rhetorical devices – some sonic, some stylistic – to make the report’s detail even more compelling and persuasive.
Once all the key stakeholders had seen the script and we'd taken on their feedback to tighten the draft, we handed over to the university's Film and Digital Media team – who, inspired by the tone of the script, created this characterful, playful and powerful film.
The university published the film and report on 20 March 2023 – and took both to a meeting with Parliament the same day, to demonstrate the university’s economic impact.