CHAMPIONS

BRIEF

In 2024, the University of Otago launched a new brand, adopting a new tohu and changing the ikoa Māori. The new ikoa Māori embodies the metaphor A Place of Many Firsts. Learn more about the new brand here.

As part of the brand launch, the University wanted to showcase champions: people with past or present ties to Otago who have made a difference in their communities and beyond. A key part of the brief was to connect these champions to the new brand and its theme of a place of many firsts.

Since we had existing footage from the launch video, editing became central to maximising its impact across the campaign.

THE CONCEPTS

I developed three approaches to repurpose the existing footage:

The Impact Montage

A compilation video showing snippets from each champion, highlighting who they are and their place in the University. Designed as a campaign teaser or social ad, this fast-paced video could open the Champions campaign on the website, introducing viewers to its purpose before exploring individual stories.

Champion Stories

Short documentary-style videos (2–3 minutes) beginning with an introduction from each champion, moving through their Otago journey, and closing with their reflections on the new brand. Natural sound and voice-overs were used to create an authentic and personal feel.

Social Media Shorts

30–50 second clips cut from the interviews, paired with upbeat audio, designed to tease the campaign and work effectively across paid channels.

THE IMPACT MONTAGE

This montage combined clips from all interviews into a short trailer for the website.

Key creative elements included text appearing both behind and in front of subjects, and highlighting key words from their dialogue. Both choices helped add impact and draw attention to the messaging.

CHAMPION STORIES

These longer videos were created for YouTube, offering more depth and space for storytelling. To keep them engaging, I included b-roll, added subtle camera-click sound effects, and layered in mellow background music. Where answers required multiple takes, I used b-roll to mask the cuts, ensuring each interview felt seamless and natural, as if captured in one take.

Interview with Ben Gray

Interview with Jamie Joseph

SOCIAL MEDIA SHORTS

Short snippets from the interviews were paired with upbeat music to create engaging teasers for social media ads. The energy of the music helped amplify the content and build hype for the wider campaign.

Social media examples