Driving Student Enrolments Amidst Market Challenges

The Challenge

The University of Wollongong (UoW) faced significant hurdles for the 2024 student intake, including a continued decline in the school leaver cohort and increasing competition from alternative education pathways. With only 42% of offers made to school leavers in the previous year, UoW prioritised increasing domestic undergraduate enrolments to mitigate revenue decline.

To address these challenges, UoW expanded its Early Admissions Program, aiming to provide students with certainty in an uncertain academic landscape. The primary objectives of the media campaign were to:

• Raise awareness of the Early Admissions Program
• Educate prospective students about the application process
• Drive applications and secure early enrolments

With a highly competitive market and the need to engage both students and their key influencers (parents), the campaign required a multi-faceted approach with a strong omni-channel presence to maximise reach and impact.

Our Strategy

Omni-Channel Presence

The campaign engaged students across all stages of the decision-making journey – exposure, exploration to evaluation – through a mix of digital and traditional channels.

Agile Budget Deployment

A flexible, real-time budget allocation model allowed daily shifts between channels to maximise performance. Custom SEM reports provided insights that guided investment increases in high-converting platforms.

Precision Audience Targeting

Recognising the influence of parents in enrolment decisions, audience profiling through GWI helped define parents as a key target segment. Strategic platform selection ensured relevance – Snapchat for student engagement, Gmail for parental outreach, and tailored content to drive impact.

Advanced Data-Driven Targeting

Platforms like DV360 enabled precise demographic segmentation, while custom and combined audiences ensured messaging reached high-intent decision-makers effectively.

The Results

The campaign delivered exceptional outcomes that exceeded the University of Wollongong's annual business targets:

• 22% increase in applications compared to target
• Exceeded enrolment goals through strategic multi-channel engagement
• Enhanced brand awareness among both students and parents
• Optimised budget efficiency through real-time performance monitoring and agile reallocation

By combining omni-channel presence with precision targeting and data-driven optimization, ADMATIC successfully helped UoW navigate a challenging education market and secure future student enrolments.