Understanding that food was one of the most important parts of the student journey, University of the Arts London (UAL) needed to take a holistic approach to deliver its offerings on a wide scale with significant impact.

After hosting essential student content on Halls Life – the University’s student communication platform powered by CampusLife’s Browzer Engage software – for more than 10 years, in 2022 UAL determined it was time to do the same for their campus catering outlets.

The challenge

Low visibility for catering services
Siloed marketing across key departments
A need to educate students on value and nutrition on campus

As the first university in the UK to receive the ‘Gold Food for Life Catering Mark’ award by the Soil Association across all canteen outlets, the University knew they had so much to offer.

However, with so much to talk about, where do you start?

From driving sales, and increasing footfall, to creating an awareness of sustainability and nutrition that goes beyond university life – UAL provided a combination of quantitative and qualitative goals that required a clear content strategy.

The Browzer Engage solution

An engaging central platform for all catering information
Mobile-first and easy to access on the go
Up-to-date content that stays relevant

CampusLife and UAL collaborated to create a one-stop spot on their Halls Life platform, which covered all of their catering information.

Acting as an extension of the team, we worked together to create a rich suite of dynamic multimedia content backed up by a strategic plan of action.

A content recipe for success

In order to meet ambitious goals and achieve year-on-year improvement, we delivered a blend of essential and engaging content with the aim of providing value to both the University and students whilst boosting engagement, including:

Student-led catering outlet tour videos
Weekly menus
Opening times
Food and drink offerings
Events
Recipes
Student tips
Local food-related activities
Trends
Interactive quizzes

We also produced a range of bespoke videos to highlight UAL’s commitment to value, community and sustainability through food.

Supported by weekly calls with BaxterStorey (UAL’s catering team) – now joined by the wider Retail and Accommodation team – CampusLife we’re able to provide proactive and reactive content and larger campaigns tailored to the student journey.

The proof is in the pudding

From recipe for success to real-world impact, in a single academic year UAL food pages achieved some impressive stats from their student community.

45k+

Total page views

51,795

Minutes spent engaging the content online

47k+

YouTube video views

These results show that…

🥙 Student interest in food has increased, therefore it is important to meet the demands for this content.

💡 The Halls Life platform creates a better user experience and helps centralise catering information.

📲 Halls Life ensures that students can access relevant and useful content at their fingertips.

A holistic approach that benefits everyone

By helping to build a sense of community through accessible food content, we were able to engage students – not only improving awareness and footfall in the outlets themselves, but also supporting students’ education of food and nutrition that goes beyond the university walls.

After all, university is a fantastic time for young people to improve their cooking skills and share their favourite dishes with their peers.

We’re extremely proud of our work with UAL on this project, which continues to this day.

And we continually look for ways to grow and innovate, ensuring we stay relevant as student and food trends change over time.

Ready to transform student engagement?

Get in touch

How UAL increase the appetite for campus catering by engaging their student community