What we were asked to do
Keele University asked us to produce an educational CD-ROM for their ‘Widening Participation’ Unit – which encourages 14-16 year-olds from lower socio-economic groups and under-privileged families to progress to higher education. This was a serious challenge for our creatives, given that this target audience is notoriously cynical and critical – so we had to deliver content and style that spoke directly to teenagers in a way that they’d take seriously.
What we did
We created a CD-ROM entitled ‘Futureproof’, which included MTV-style videos, virtual campus tour, computer game graphics etc, informing and educating through creativity, humour and interactivity. To combat the notoriously low attention span of the target group, major emphasis was on usability and functionality, rewarding exploration with bonus features and games. Each main section featured a quiz that tracked activities completed by the user, so that schools could assess progress and understanding. Before we launched Futureproof, we tested it on our hard-to-please target audience, and happily, they loved it – in fact 95% of pupils enjoyed using the programme, 92% thought it was well presented and 87% said they had learned something new from using it.
What happened
Futureproof has been distributed to state schools in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, it’s being integrated into the counties curriculum Key Stage 4 (with a potential audience of 10,000 students a year), and it’s won a number of awards, including the Best CD-ROM at the BIMAS, Fresh and Big Chip Awards. It also won the prestigious Grand Prix prize at the 2004 BIMAS (British Interactive Marketing Awards) and won Best Use of New Media at the 2004 HEIST Awards (for Higher Education Marketing).