Westpac Grad 2026
An uncommon evolution
You might think you know Westpac’s Uncommon Minds campaign, but you haven’t seen anything yet!
Westpac’s famous grad heads - exploding with uncommon experiences, interests and skills - still feature. But this year, animated selfies reveal the moments that created those uncommon minds, and on TikTok and Facebook Reels our grads explain what’s inside them.
Real grads with real stories help us attract independent thinkers from every field of study. We know it works, because we ask our grads what inspired them to apply:
Samantha – “To me, Westpac’s ‘Uncommon Minds’ brand is an encouragement to bring fresh perspectives and a new toolbox to the company.”
Tanisha – “Its focus on celebrating individuality and diverse thinking strongly resonated with me and influenced my decision to join Westpac.”
These are the grads we want, so it makes sense to create more of the stories that inspire them. The campaign only concluded in August, yet applications are already up more than a quarter, and the mix has shifted: STEM candidates now make up 53.6% of our applicant pool, and female representation is up by 3.6%. More uncommon minds, from more places.
1. Strategy and Objective Setting
We set three objectives for the 2026 campaign:
Grow applications on the prior year by expanding Uncommon Minds into a wider integrated campaign, with deeper storytelling and broader reach.
Attract independent thinkers from every field of study, shifting the applicant mix beyond the commerce-focused pool banking traditionally draws on, and continuing to grow female representation.
Reach more students more efficiently: greater reach and impressions without matching increases in media investment.
An uncommonly integrated strategy
The strategy answered one challenge: how do you improve an already high-performing graduate proposition without losing the idea that made it successful? Rather than replace ‘Uncommon Minds’, we dug deeper into the experiences and skills that create one.
We built a hierarchy of messaging that followed students through their day, each platform adding a little more to pique curiosity.
Each message was grounded in real Westpac graduates’ hopes, experiences and ambitions. Our three hero graduates spanned AI, data and finance, so a student in a technical degree could see themselves in the program as readily as a commerce student. We shared the reels through our platform media partners, @SeekGrad and @Prosple, putting those stories in front of students already searching, and amplified them through partner EDMs.
The same idea ran through campus and commuter outdoor, animated study panels, LinkedIn video and single-image creative, TikTok and Facebook Reels, and our own Graduate Program site: each channel adding a layer, each reinforcing one proposition, an uncommon mind is an asset here, not something to hide.
It was built with Westpac’s graduate recruitment and employer-brand stakeholders, media and creative partners, and university media owners. Current graduates were not simply talent: they made the story credible and extended its reach through their own networks.
2. Creativity and Delivery
Uncommon experiences
Our campaign has always shared grads’ stories through video, posters and outdoor media.
This year we evolved the concept by capturing the moments that created each of our three hero grads’ Uncommon Minds. The exploding-heads posters and short-form videos still ran, but we added longer-form video in which we animated our grads’ own selfies to show how they acquired those experiences.
Then we gave our grads a voice. Through TikTok and Facebook Reels, our heroes walked us through their uncommon minds, sharing the stories that made them compelling candidates.
Why has this AI grad got an emu in his uncommon mind? Josh can now tell you his family has four pet emus. Why has this Data grad got a DJ deck? DJing is Valerie’s side hustle. Why would a Finance and Treasury grad have ballet shoes? Jess’s ballet lessons help her wind down after a day in the markets.
Uncommon delivery
The delivery followed students through their day. On the journey to university: ‘Uncommon Minds’ posters at train stations, bus shelters and on the streets. On campus: the same posters animating into 8-second videos in bars and food courts. Scrolling social: longer selfie-led videos showing where those experiences came from. Then TikTok and Facebook Reels introduced the grads themselves.
In total we created 129 assets across 23 integrated asset groups, including video, outdoor video, university media, live events and internal videos.
3. Impact and Outcomes
Objective 1: More applications, and a deeper bench
Applications increased to a record level - 28% up on last year - so recruiters were able to select from an even deeper pool of uncommon minds. The lift was strongest where the business needed it most: the Tech Rotational program, and DDAI, a 2027 offering we had never formally recruited for. A campaign that delivers for a new technology stream in its first year is not just marketing, it is building the capability pipeline the bank is betting on.
Objective 2: Uncommon minds, not just commerce minds
The clearest proof the idea worked is in who applied. STEM applications rose 3.1 percentage points to 53.6% of the pool, a 6.1% relative lift, so a clear majority of our applicants now come from technical disciplines rather than the commerce-focused talent pool banking has traditionally recruited from. Female representation rose 1.3 percentage points to 37.2%, a 3.6% relative lift. The campaign did not just widen the funnel, it changed its composition: more uncommon minds, from more fields, and more women choosing banking.
Objective 3: More students reached, for barely more money
A 10% increase in media investment returned up to a 54% increase in coverage, and average frequency fell rather than rose, so the extra spend bought new students instead of repeat exposure. The attention converted, with our platform media partners doing the heavy lifting: @Prosple delivered registered applications at a cost 63% below the banking benchmark, @SeekGrad drove 10,627 apply starts on 27,240 EDM sends, LinkedIn cost per click fell as engagement climbed, and traffic to our Graduate Program site grew strongly.
In a year when every marketing dollar is contested, a cheaper, larger and more diverse pipeline is what keeps graduate brand investment on the table.
