Making excellence accessible
Imperial College London
Tone of voice. Brand language. Prospectus copywriting.
Helping one of the world’s leading science universities let out its inner geek.
What we did
Tone of voice
Messaging
Brand positioning
Copywriting
Around the world, Imperial College London stands for academic and scientific excellence.
But excellence shouldn’t mean elitism. Imperial wants students to apply because of their talent and enthusiasm, not their background or bank balance. As part of a larger initiative called ‘Widening Participation’, they approached Lark to see where their language and tone could be made less ‘imperial’ (or imperious), and more inclusive.
The sci-fi writer John Scalzi once said:
“Many people believe geekdom is defined by a love of a thing – but I think the true sign of a geek is a delight in sharing a thing.
“It’s the major difference between a geek and a hipster. When a hipster sees someone else grooving on the thing they love, their reaction is: Oh no! Now the wrong people like the thing I love.’
“But when a geek sees someone else grooving on the thing they love, their reaction is: ‘YOU LOVE WHAT I LOVE. COME WITH ME AND LET’S LOVE IT TOGETHER!’.”
The guys at Imperial are definitely STEM geeks. But too often, they’re also accused of being (academic) hipsters, snobs and elitists.
So, as part of the work they’re doing to attract a more diverse intake, we created an insightful, intuitive tone of voice guide to help them add inclusivity and inspiration to the excellence they’re already renowned for. We then put it into practice on the pages of their 2021 and 2022 undergrad prospectuses.
We’re not really the target market, but they certainly made us want to apply.
Oh to be 18 again. And also good at science.
