Creative Execution

British Council didn't need yet another ad campaign. It needed a useful idea. By re-purposing a piece of technology built primarily for mobile-commerce, the Visual Dictionary app was created to aid students and potential students improve their vocabulary. Simply by taking a picture of any object, the app uses visual search technology to tell you what it is. Recognizing nearly 40 million images, the app instantaneously syncs with the Cambridge dictionary to provide the user with the respective meaning and pronunciation. Snap a picture and improve your vocabulary instantly. It was that easy.

During the initial test phase with the current batch of students at the British Council, the results were highly encouraging. In just two weeks, a total of 303,753 words were searched on the Visual Dictionary app. This averages out to about 250 new English words taught to a student - a tall order to achieve with just in-class learning. With every student now armed with this innovative, real-time mobile tool, the Visual Dictionary helped overcome one of the language’s biggest hurdle, thanks in large part to identify an existing student behaviour, utilizing data, and the mobility of a real-time experience.

Vocabulary is pivotal in learning English, but also one of the biggest obstacles to overcome, especially for beginners. British Council realized, through observations made during classes, that in-class teaching could only do so much to help. A lot of out-class learning is needed to further develop their vocabulary and interest in words. On a related note, the teachers at the centres were remarking that more and more of their students were sharing photos of unfamiliar objects taken with their smartphones, to learn the respective English term, pronunciation and spelling. This gave rise to the opportunity to reach out to the students, in their moment of need, and make life easier for them by sharing the pronunciation and meaning behind an object, whose English name is foreign to them, in an accessible and relevant way. A potential win/win scenario for both the brand and its students.