The Brief

The British Council embarked on a cost-effective digital campaign to help raise its profile with prospects - working professionals who are non-proficient in English. An online presence is integral as the Internet is a rich resource for the target audience to read articles and improve their language proficiency. Emphasizing that the average Internet user is exposed to a myriad of banner ads when they are online, the tactic for this direct campaign was to make life easier for the user rather than posting one-directional ads and messages to them, in order to capture their attention and trigger an interaction.

Creative Execution

By tracking the natural web usage behavior of a user highlighting a peculiar word when reading online, the 'Know your English' banner would update in real-time to reveal the meaning behind the respective word and provide audio pronunciation to help learners overcome the barrier of an unfamiliar word. The banner remained in a non-intrusive but ever-present spot on the website throughout the entire experience, ready to be called upon when needed. In doing so, not only did British council turned a web banner placement into an innovative learning tool, but helped people increase their proficiency in the English-language.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

There are times when the target audience . learners of the English language, will encounter words that are unfamiliar when they surf the web for information. The British Council saw this as an opportunity to reach out in the prospects' moment of need and make life easier by sharing the meaning behind the word that are foreign to them. In providing a service and facilitating a need, the 'Know your English' banner aims to raise the profile of the British Council amongst its target audience and interact with an estimated 15861 prospects within 3 days.

Results

The campaign was executed in 3 markets - Singapore, Malaysia and Shanghai, reaching out to over 15861 prospects within 3 days. The average interaction rate was 51.8% - 19.5 times more than the average rich media and 272 times more than the standard banner. Average time spent on the banner was 2 minutes 14 seconds, 11 times more than time spent on rich media banners. 31.9% of the prospects used the audio pronunciation feature within the banner, proving that they were not only getting a better understanding behind the meaning of a word, they were also improving their grasp of the English language.