New ID brings in gold

Sheffield University has won a top award for a marketing strategy that has helped the institution carve out a distinct identity in the increasingly competitive higher education market.

The university scooped the Marketing Department of the Year gold award at Tuesday's annual event run by Heist, a marketing agency for higher education.

Sheffield's marketing department, formed just three years ago when the communications and marketing teams were merged, impressed judges by stamping the university with a clear corporate identity.

Jon Pyle, assistant marketing director, said: "A few years ago you could take three publications from three different departments in the university and they'd look like they came from three completely different organisations.

"Now the university has a clear visual identity... We have found that academics from across the university are now coming to us for help and advice in marketing new courses."

De Montfort University won the award for best TV advertisement for an eye-catching animation developed with the help of the advertising firm Saatchi and Saatchi. Together, they devised an advertisement based on a colourful young character stuck in a grey world for whom De Montfort offers opportunities.

Other winners included Alan Tobi of Huddersfield University, named Heist young marketer of the year; Loughborough University, which won the best direct marketing award with its revision formula sheets for A-level mathematics students; the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which won the gold award for best postgraduate prospectus; the Royal College of Nursing, which won gold for the best publication promoting part-time opportunities; and City Lit, a college in central London, awarded the UK student recruitment prize.