Plymouth College of Art

Our market research consistently shows that course suitability is the key factor influencing prospective undergraduates’ choices. 

Plymouth College of Art (PCA) is a specialist art school, the lion’s share of whose students are undergraduates on art, crafts and media courses.

PCA commissioned YouthSight to test the titles of a range of new courses that PCA was looking to introduce.  The college wanted to ensure the new courses achieved cut-through, resonance and correctly communicated the course content and benefits.  We were also asked to provide insights on how PCA’s prospective Arts students make their university and course choices, (with the aim of helping PCA optimise recruitment and boost attraction).

We developed a '6 pillar' methodology toolkit and set of tests for PCA to apply to their new course titles to ensure success and maximise attraction for the upcoming launch. Going beyond the actual launch, the toolkit was developed as long-lasting resource to inform all future course and portfolio changes.  YouthSight also provided PCA with a table of their best performing course titles (with researched rationales) a schema on the key drivers, motivations and barriers for prospective Arts degree students and the role of parents in decision-making.

The College principle, Andrew Brewerton described YouthSight’s work as one of the most useful pieces of research he’d commissioned and, one year on, the research is still being regularly consulted and used as a blueprint for course development.  The research has been shared widely within PCA and beyond with PCA’s advertising agency using the findings to inform their media buying, targeting, copy and creative development.