The student-elected board of the 1895-established Adelaide University Union (AUU) decided in November 2021 to rebrand to “YouX”, saying the new name would link the organisation to “user experience”.

But the rebrand was criticised by students and received widespread media attention – including from national news outlets – given YouX is also the name of a pornography website. 

YouX is partly funded by students through the compulsory student services and amenities fee (SSAF), with the organisation providing student advocacy and employment services along with funding for student media, clubs and events.

The organisation last year refused to reveal how much the rebrand cost, claiming it was commercial in confidence.

University of Adelaide student and YouX member Edward Satchell submitted a series of freedom of information (FOI) requests in May 2022 seeking documents about the cost of the rebrand and the reasoning behind it.

YouX initially refused to process Satchell’s request, arguing it was not an “agency” under South Australia’s FOI laws.

But this argument was rejected by the state Ombudsman who ordered YouX in January 2023 to release 106 documents found within the scope of Satchell’s request.

YouX engaged legal counsel to request a review of the Ombudsman’s decision in the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT) but dropped its legal challenge in May – paving the way for the documents to be released.

The formerly-named AUU, which counts Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard as one of its former presidents, attracted national media attention last year when it rebranded to YouX. Photo: Jason Katsaras/InDaily

Among the newly released documents seen by InDaily are confidential minutes of an AUU board meeting held on April 4, 2022.

The minutes record that Labor-affiliated board member Felix Eldridge asked former AUU executive offer Gary Sutherland about the cost of rebranding to YouX.

“Felix Eldridge asks the total costs of rebranding to date to which Gary Sutherland replied: $70,000,” the minutes state.

InDaily asked YouX if it had spent any additional money on the rebrand after April 4, 2022. A spokesperson replied that the total cost of research and development of the new logo was $79,972.

“These costs were spread over a three year period and included conducting a large scale survey and multiple focus groups, the development of brand identity options and creative work, and all final documentation, assets and guidelines associated with the new brand,” the YouX spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said a further $47,452 was spent on printing and production of newly branded materials but insisted “much of this expenditure would have taken place irrespective of the rebrand in order to replace depleted stock and update old materials”.

YouX said last year that the rebrand was funded entirely through profits from its commercial entities, not SSAF revenue. The spokesperson said this remained the case.

YouX administered just over $2.8m in SSAF funding in its 2023 budget, according to another document released via FOI.

The newly released documents also show that student-elected board members pushed to remove the word “union” from the AUU’s title.

This was despite the former AUU board receiving advice from University of Adelaide staff members that the YouX name was not preferred by target audiences, including students.

Confidential minutes of a board meeting held on October 13, 2021, record that the AUU’s head of engagement, Simone Bannister, and its marketing and events manager, Kearin Hausler, presented the board with “findings from testing with focus groups”.

“Groups consisting of four types of audiences were tested on brand names (AUU, Adelaide University Union, and youX),” the minutes state.

“It was concluded that the audience’s preferred name was AUU out of the three.”

Former AUU vice-president Isaac Trumble then argued against retaining the AUU brand, according to the minutes.

Trumble was for more than two years an electorate officer to former Boothby Liberal MP Nicolle Flint, according to his LinkedIn. He declined to comment when contacted by InDaily.

“Isaac Trumble said that the original name should not be retained, since a decline in membership can be observed for multiple years as new students are not interested in joining,” the minutes record.

“To his opinion retaining the name is not going to help the situation.”

The October minutes also state that Trumble said “students don’t want to connect with the union” and the AUU name is “not inclusive as there are people who are strongly against the term ‘union’”.

He is also recorded as having a back-and-forth with staff members about the focus group testing.

“Isaac Trumble further expressed how current students do not associating (sic) well with the term ‘union’ and provided several cases in whic (sic) rebranding has led to an increase in student participation and membership,” the minutes state.

“Kearin Hausler expressed that research made it clear that personal association with the term ‘union’ was very different across focus groups, including parents and high school students.

“Isaac Trumble argued that parents won’t join the union themselves, and current students have already established a negative connotation to the term ‘union’.

“Kearin Hausler argued that parents do participate in Open Days, and that the negative connotation was only developed through their university experience, not at the start.

“In this case, he thinks clarifying the services and aim of the union using a positioning statement would be the best.”

The minutes record that former AUU president Oscar Ong then said: “Many people are curious of ‘youX’, which is needed to attract more students”. Ong declined to comment when contacted by InDaily.

In the same October meeting, the AUU’s former executive officer, Gary Sutherland, appeared to question the quality of the focus group research.

“Gary Sutherland said that some biases were still present in the research, such as how the email containing the initial survey started with ‘Hey Union fans’,” the minutes state.

“Gary Sutherland further described how starting the audience off with the original name “AUU” could also skew the result.”

According to the minutes, Labor-affiliated board member Billy Zimmerman defended the quality of the focus group testing.

“Billy Zimmermann argued that they are professionals in conducting marketing research, to which Isaac Trumble said that it is naïve to believe professionals blindly,” the minutes state.

“Gary Sutherland mentioned that the term ‘union’ is constantly bashed against by university staff as well, whom, unlike students, are a fixed part of the stakeholder groups.”

Sutherland did not respond to inquiries from InDaily.

In a September 2021 email, Sutherland wrote to AUU head of engagement Simone Bannister that the AUU board’s view was “the only unequivocal thing about the rebrand is not having the word ‘union’ in the organisation’s name”.

YouX’s rebranded website.

Also among the 106 documents released under FOI is a “master questions list” prepared by the AUU purportedly in preparation for engagement with media and stakeholders about the rebrand to YouX.

One of the questions in the list is: “What does the AUU say to accusations that the removal of the word ‘union’ is a political decision?”

The prepared response states: “This project has been entirely research-based, benefitting from external and objective expertise and advice from branding agency Nation.

“The sole focus of the rebrand project has been to achieve better engagement and service provision for students and has involved significant student consultation.”

InDaily asked YouX why the focus group testing advice presented in the October 2021 board meeting was not followed.

A spokesperson replied that the former AUU board “considered a range of advice and options in making the decision to proceed with the rebrand”.

“The focus group testing was one part of this process and focussed on how the previous AUU branding was viewed by key audiences,” the spokesperson said.

“Ultimately, the Board felt that a more contemporary brand option was better placed to position the organisation to maximise engagement with current and future students.”

Asked if the rebrand to YouX has been a success, the spokesperson said: “The new brand is still in the initial phase of implementation after launching just under 12 months ago, but so far, results have been positive and we have continued to see high engagement levels across our on-campus and online activities.

“Brand performance is best measured over the long-term and our focus will be on the continued monitoring and building of the brand, and ensuring our students have access to the critical services that we provide.”