Guided by the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Corporate Relations, Asante Solutions was part of the team tasked with capturing and telling authentic African stories of proud and celebratory moments during the 2022 University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) graduation ceremony which ran from 4-21 May 2022. And with this year marking the first time in two years that students were able to celebrate in-person graduations (due to the Covid-19 pandemic), it is no surprise the campaign racked up heaps of excitement and engagement from over 8,000 graduates. Coupled with that, the graduation ceremonies were preceded by the inauguration of the new chancellor, Dr. Reuel J. Khoza, who is described as a distinguished leader and change agent at the forefront of transformation in South African.
“We embrace storytelling. We use the power of technology to do this instantly and distribute content globally. All digital tactics we implement are data driven, from the social listening we do and insights derived across all platforms,” comments Muhle Ndwalane, managing director of Asante Solutions.
The company executed a brief from UKZN’s corporate relations division, the brains behind the UKZN graduation media and communications strategy. This innovative strategy has seen UKZN graduation ceremonies dominating mainstream and social media space over the past couple of years “Integrating with the UKZN corporate relations division team is an amazing experience as we are able to work in harmony and seamlessly achieve multiple goals that increase the UKZN brand value. The success of the #UKZNGrad2022 is a testament to that, as we were able to instil pride on all stakeholders and increase the number of prospective students.”
Through the execution of the humancentric and authentic marketing strategy adopted by UKZN, Asante Solutions contributed to putting the UKZN brand on the map by highlighting touching celebratory moments of students and parents, jubilations and ululations that saw the UKZN hashtag #UKZNGrad2022 topping the Twitter trends list in first place for three consecutive days with over 12 million impressions, and having other social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Tik Tok) reaching millions of people. The UKZN TikTok account in particular was opened on 4 May, the first day of the graduation, and has now gained more than 52,000 followers and over three million views in less than a month due to the authentic content that has been developed during the graduation season.
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