Edinburgh Napier University
Corporate Communications, Events
Educating tomorrow’s leaders and ‘The Next Generation of Business’ is a journey Edinburgh Napier Uni have been spearheading in Scotland for decades. As one of Britain’s most respected tertiary institutions, their global footprint is one with great strength, and one which we took great pride in visualising.
For many of us, our University years are filled with great memories, unbelievable experiences (perhaps a pinch of embarrassment), and generate a real sense of nostalgia. How life has changed since graduation, how our perception of the world has evolved since studying. But a big part of tertiary study is the connections it introduces you to, the world of opportunity it opens up to you, and it’s influence on your future out in the world post-graduation.
Edinburgh Napier University is one of the most respected Tertiary Institutions in Britain, with its exceptional reputation for international business, international trade, and its dedication to ensuring Scottish minds are a key part of tomorrow’s success. And when our very own CEO, Angus MacFadyen gave a keynote speech on International Business at their Craiglockhart Campus, the worlds of Edinburgh Napier and Pufferfish collided.
BRIEF
Needing a visually stimulating and engaging solution for their upcoming Industry 4.0 conference, Edinburgh Napier University came to us for the answer. Knowing Pufferfish are the world leaders in Spherical Display Technology, they knew we could offer them a dynamic solution to enhance their global messaging and transform their marketing material.
With Industry 4.0 being dedicated to ‘The Next Generation of Business’ from a technological perspective and ‘turning the spotlight on the skills needed to drive economic growthin the 21st century’, they wanted to ensure they had a memorable, interactive, welcoming and truly commanding communication tool that screamed innovation.
The event would see the likes of Business Minister Jamie Hepburn MSP attend too, so the event was an exciting opportunity for ENU to further solidify their strength in developing future leaders.
SOLUTION
Punching 9000 centre Lumens and exceptional UHD quality projection, our PufferTouch2+ solution would serve as a strong centre piece for both the conference, evening reception, and the week’s display in the iconic Craiglockhart Campus in Colinton.
With its 600mm screen, it would also encourage conversation around the sphere, eye contact, and would ensure shared experiences surrounding the ENU global footprint would be remembered.
Next came their turnkey application. Being a tertiary institution, there was no shortage of research, information, global data and statistics; but we needed to ensure there was a clear structure to the app, that it had strong visual media, and was a suitably engaging story for their intended users. With both students engaging with it during the day and industry influencers from across Scotland at night, it needed to be a clear, concise message with strong images and video content to capture their attention and then engage their minds.
The Pufferfish team worked closely with ENU’s Marketing & Communications Partner, Ron Aitken on developing his detailed content, and transforming it into intuitive content suitable for our 360° format sphere. They broke his key messaging and marketing brand material into 4 key sections – Edinburgh Napier University, their Business School, the local Edinburgh Community and Research & Innovation, accessed through a mandala style menu. There would then be a separate section showcasing ENU’s global footprint through a second mandala menu, allowing users to understand more on Partnering University’s around the world, Current Students and globally where they have travelled from, and finally their Global Online reputation.
By pairing a user-friendly structure with dynamic buttons and hotspots across the sphere, we were able to give information a new identity and ensure complex data was easy to understand, as well as show global information in its inherent format. We wanted the application to be equally stimulating for both the eye and the touch.
OUTCOME
With a University like ENU steeped in history, and a long track record of worldwide success from students, staff and diverse alumni, the biggest hurdle is making complex data and information clear, concise and easy to interact with. Our resulting application did exactly that. With its vibrant colours, strong visual identity through branding and video media, dynamic global data to explore, and the inclusion of coloured maps; we were able to create a visual solution to numbers, a digital structure to hugely complex information, and a playful communication tool for context.
As an added feature, we also offered analytics for the week long activation. Highlighting which areas of the application were the most used, and ultimately helping ENU understand key insights and data, the analytics helped support using our solutions for future events and also helped showcase which parts of their key messaging were the most popular.
The result was a hugely engaging, innovative addition to their successful conference, and one which caught the eye of both future leaders and current influencers. Not just strengthening the ENU reputation for being one of the best University’s in the UK, but one that has a firm grip on the future of business, technology and global economic success.
We have to extend a huge thank you to Ron for his ongoing support. We hope to work with you again soon and help continue your commitment to educating tomorrow’s leaders.