This Is Engineering | Shane Horn

Engineering something different

Royal Academy of Engineering

An initiative to inspire a generation. Changing and challenging dated perceptions of engineering.

Branding
Photography
Film
Advertising
Digital
Social
Events

Agency: Bandstand
Copy: Will Miles & Louella Minter
Design: James Clarke & Tim Wooliscroft
Art direction: Jessica Njoo
Director: Rich Hall
Photographer: Harry Parvin
Post prod: Envy

My role: Creative, art direction & design

Project
summary

I was involved in initially pitching, winning, and then creating a digitally-led campaign for the Royal Academy of Engineering. I’ve since become the creative lead for the campaign which is now entering its sixth season.

The campaign aimed to shift dated perceptions of engineering in order to inspire the next generation of engineers and seek to rectify a lack of young and diverse talent within the industry.

Extensive in-depth research with relevant audience groups and workshops with our key stakeholders were fundamental to capturing the insight we needed. Aiming to inspire students aged 13-18 we knew that a high-profile, digitally-led advertising campaign was the way forward.

Our big campaign idea, #ThisIsEngineering centred around unexpected examples of engineering that focussed on different passion points – highlighting the astounding breadth of this profession.

We used real-life stories of young engineers, who had turned their passions into a career. Mini-doc films were created by director Rich Hall. And beautiful portrait and action shots by Harry Parvin.

Rolled out across YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, OOH, and DOOH, content included hero films, long-form interviews, shorter cuts, and posters. We also created a website that provided further information about engineering careers for students, teachers, and parents. To further target parents, executions were developed into TV commercials that were broadcast in prime-time slots.

I worked with our Design Director James Clarke, to develop the campaign’s visual identity, look and feel.

Our work has had impressive views (over 21 million) and engagement stats, with 72% of teens who saw the campaign reporting they would consider an engineering career, with consideration higher among females and those from BAME backgrounds.

We received coverage from the BBC, The Times, FT, SkyNews, Radio, it was featured as 'Ad of the week' by The Drum and the campaign was even mentioned in the UK parliament at Prime Minister’s Questions.

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Building on the success of the first phase of the campaign, we continue to cover broader passion points - from blockbuster movies to disaster relief. As well as dedicating an annual day, TIE Day. Celebrating amazing engineering and engineers throughout the world.