Unlocked is a charity that recruits and trains outstanding graduates to lead prisoner rehabilitation. It wants to create high-performing leaders that can break cycles of reoffending in prisons and throughout society. It does so through a two-year programme that combines a bespoke Master’s course and more than 100 hours of mentoring, as well as a placement in a prison.

It aims to make this one of the most prestigious graduate programmes in the UK, so its graduate recruitment campaign needed to stand out. The role is challenging, however, and not everyone is suited to it, so the campaign needed to excite those who would suit it best. ‘It’s not for you’ was the bold approach that would do this, with a unique visual style that would spark curiosity and stop people in their tracks. The campaign could not show uniformed staff or inside prisons, but generative AI would allow Unlocked to achieve an impactful and unexpected visual style.

To get the hero image, Pink Squid and Unlocked explored different AI prompts, then did the same for the background and editing. Straplines included provocative questions such as ‘Can’t handle a bit of an intellectual challenge?’. The campaign went live in September 2023 across key channels such as Instagram and the Student Room, the UK’s largest online student community. Other content included TikTok, LinkedIn and Investing.com. The bold creative summarises the challenging aspects of the programme but is also “thought-provoking, prestigious and appealing”, according to Unlocked’s CEO, Natasha Porter.