CASE STUDY • EDUCATION
How Deakin's SME Research Centre
Found It's Voice On Camera
Deakin University’s SME Research Centre exists to support small and medium-sized businesses across Australia through research, partnerships, and practical guidance. The problem was that many of the businesses the centre was built to help had no idea it existed.
In 2025, the centre was moving in a new direction. They needed a film to introduce that direction, explain what they do, and make small business owners feel like the centre was built for them.
CLIENT
Deakin University
YEAR
2025
LOCATION
Melbourne, Victoria
SECTOR
Education
SERVICES
Brand Films
THE CHALLENGE
Making academic research feel accessible to small business.
University research centres are not always easy to communicate clearly. The work is important, but the language around it can feel distant from the people it is designed to serve. Small business owners are time-poor and sceptical of institutions that feel out of touch with the day-to-day realities of running a business.
The SME Research Centre needed a film that could bridge that gap. One that communicated the centre’s vision and partnerships in plain terms, showcased real-world impact through a business case study, and made small business owners feel like the centre was in their corner rather than looking down from an ivory tower.
Two versions were required. A three-minute film for the website and longer-form platforms, and a 90-second cut for social media distribution.
THE sOLUTION
Vision, partners, and proof.
We structured the film around three clear threads. The first was the centre itself, its new direction, and what it was setting out to achieve for Australian small business. The second was the key industry partners whose involvement gave the centre credibility and reach beyond the university. The third was a real business case study, showing what the centre’s support actually looked like in practice and what it delivered for a business that had worked with them.
The combination gave the film a natural arc. Viewers understood what the centre was, why credible organisations had partnered with it, and what it could do for a business like theirs. That last point was the most important. Research centres live and die on their ability to demonstrate impact in terms that feel tangible to the people they serve.
A 90-second version was cut for LinkedIn and social distribution, structured to land the core message quickly for audiences unlikely to sit through three minutes in a feed environment.
BRAND FILM PRODUCED
THE RESULT
Published and reaching the audience it was built for.
Both versions of the film were delivered and deployed across the SME Research Centre’s website, LinkedIn, and YouTube, putting the centre’s new direction in front of the small business audience it was designed to serve.
The three-minute film gives the website a strong anchor piece for anyone who wants to understand the centre in depth. The 90-second cut gives the social channels content that earns attention quickly and drives traffic back to the full story.
MOVING FORWARD
A continued relationship with Deakin.
This project is part of an ongoing relationship with Deakin University across multiple faculties and teams. Each brief is different, but the challenge is consistent: take complex, important work and communicate it in a way that reaches the people it was built to help.
WORK WITH US
Ready to build something like this?
Whether you need a single film or a long-term content partnership, start with a conversation.