The Brief
In spring 2016 Adgen were appointed to work with Global Student Accommodation (GSA), one of the world’s biggest players in the student accommodation marketplace.
As part of an aggressive expansion plan, GSA were looking to make a number of key acquisitions and kick on with the development of new builds in order to help them reach their ambitious target to be global leader in student accommodation by 2025.
Adgen were briefed to be responsible for the media planning and buying for all UK and Irish OOH advertising for GSA and their student facing brands – The Student Housing Company and UniNest Student Residencies.
Background
The UK is the second most popular destination in the world for International students where GSA operates their award-winning The Student Housing Company brand, with a portfolio of 22 properties across 13 cities, totalling over 7,133 beds.
In Ireland their current build program in Dublin totals approximately €130m with 3 residences operated under the Uninest Student Residences brand. GSA have also just launched a huge 400 bed property in Cork to expand their portfolio in this important marketplace.
Media and Brand Strategy
As a supplier to GSA, Adgen have had the brief of helping to position them as the premium student accommodation provider in the UK and Ireland and driving sales to keep each property full or near capacity.
Campaigns run over the last 3 years have seen Adgen plan, buy and execute a wide variety of OOH campaign activities across the following formats – roadside (kiosk/6 sheets), billboard (48/96 sheets), transport (all formats), mobile-OOH (predominantly AdVans), experiential, on-campus media, and traditional broadcast media such as regional and national radio.
Our contract also covers press advertising which typically involves national newspapers or student specific magazines.
Campaign Management
A large scale campaign covering all formats across 15 cities is launched every year in August, but the nature of the student accommodation marketplace often dictates that ad-hoc campaigns are required to boost sales or cover competitor marketing activities, meaning the Adgen team need to be extremely responsive in order to get campaigns to market on time, budget and importantly, on brief.
Our teams are experts at planning and booking campaigns at very short notice, and our studio team are adept at creating artwork (where required) to deliver to media providers to meet their tight deadlines. None of this would be possible without experienced staff and excellent media relationships – something Adgen prides itself on.
The Result
The end result was a fully developed suite of creative assets and a a strategic, always-on media campaign that placed students at the heart of the brand. This media plan helped GSA to achieve full properties across all of their UK properties with some properties over-subscribed.
Due to our marketing push in the Irish market, GSA have also seen a continuing increase in their market share too.
