The Open University unveils new platform ‘The Future is Open’

‘The Future is Open’, a brand new platform for The Open University and devised by Havas, launches across all marketing channels, including a new TV ad shot by Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix winning director Malik Vitthal.

The Open University – the UK’s largest, and only four nation, university, and pioneer of supported distance learning for more than 50 years – has unveiled a major new brand platform, The Future is Open.

This significant body of work, devised by a trio of Havas agencies, comes to life in every channel and touchpoint for a brand even more relevant today than at any time in its 53-year history. The OU was founded in 1969 with the ambition to make learning accessible to anyone, anywhere.

The OU’s new brand platform kicks off with an engaging 60″ TV ad, created by Havas London, and shot by shot by Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix-winning director Malik Vitthal through majority woman & minority-owned production company The Corner Shop UK. It opens on an ambitious, astronomy-obsessed young woman, sitting on her bed, surrounded by posters of the solar system. Looking up from her book, she notices the large moon pinned to her wall is giving off an inviting glow. Intrigued, she breaks through it to reveal a portal – reminiscent of the ‘O’ in the OU’s logo – which transports her through time into her dream career in aerospace engineering. Other characters, including a busy dad shopping with his daughter, an exhausted office worker, and a young woman working in a coffee shop, follow suit – diving headfirst into their own portals to realise their callings as a healthcare worker, barrister, and broadcast journalist respectively.

The AV campaign is supported on linear, BVOD and on Connected TV and radio, with regional adaptations that run UK-wide, and bespoke cutdowns running on Digital Video and social media including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Out-of-home, with regional adaptations, will also run throughout the UK, deploying a range of different formats to balance campaign impact with campaign dwell. All channel budgets have been phased against econometrics data to generate maximum return for the OU.

Vicki Maguire, chief creative officer at Havas London adds: “I have a huge amount of love for The Open University, and I’m not the only one. This campaign brings that to life across every touchpoint. More than half a century since it burst onto the scene, the OU has never been more relevant – and we needed to reflect that. I’m proud to have been involved.”

This article was originally published in Little Black Book.