BU students win plaudits in project for car manufacturer

11 September 2012

Ten Bournemouth University students have come out on top in a project for car manufacturer SEAT, in a bid to help raise awareness of their brand.

The BU team was made up of four students studying the Business School’s MBA and six studying on the Media School’s Postgraduate Media Production courses. Their strong mix of skills was the key to their success, with the Business School students taking the lead on the project management and the Media School students using their production expertise, whilst they all contributed creatively.

The project started back in January when ten universities visited SEAT’s UK Head Quarters in Milton Keynes and were immersed in the SEAT brand to get their ideas flowing. Each team set to work on creating a range of brand awareness concepts before picking their top 3 to pitch to SEAT. The Bournemouth University team made it through to the next round, which was halved down to five universities and were later shortlisted into the final two.

From the word go SEAT were excited about one of Bournemouth University’s concepts in particular and the team set to work on bringing it to life, after being awarded a £5,000 budget to work with. They decided to produce a giant artwork of the company’s logo on a large nine metre by eight metre sail canvas, decorated by the painted feet of the general public. The logo was carefully stencilled on to the hand-stitched canvas and laid out in Bournemouth Gardens on one of the first sunny days of the year. Hundreds of people by-passed the event and it turned into a real family affair with people of all ages dipping their toes into the multi coloured paints, eager to add their own personal touches to the creation. There was a real buzz to the event and a crowd gathered towards the end of the day as the stencil was removed, revealing the brightly coloured logo.

The making of the giant logo was filmed by the Media School students and some short video clips were edited which encapsulated the enjoyment of those involved in the day. The team were called back to Milton Keynes to present their concept to the SEAT panel and after showing the video, they were informed that their work would be used on the SEAT website and will feature on their YouTube channel as well.

SEAT were so impressed with the work the team undertook that they have decided to seal their relationship with Bournemouth University by running the project with groups of BU students every year. They also plan to hang the canvas in their main Head Quarters in Barcelona.

Congratulations to the whole team for their success on this project.