Client Requirements

We didn't just build the website for the DfES's web based initiative, Parents Online; we coordinated the national marketing and communication campaigns that made it a success as well!

Technologies Utilized

Internet, Public Relations, Advertising, Media Planning and Purchase, Live Events, Design, Production and Distribution of Resource Packs, Video and CDROM Production..

Results

An initial 12-month web based project that evolved into a five-year campaign involving above and below the line promotions, grass roots marketing, press advertising, celebrity endorsement and business sponsorship. The campaign was commended by the Sunday Times as the best public information website created by a Government department and was a finalist in the prestigious Forum Awards which are only open to sites with the .gov prefix. A community of 15,000 parents and teachers evolved during the course of the campaign and continues to be active on the Parents Online replacement www.parentscentre.gov.uk

The DfES created Parents Online to promote internet usage among parents as well as promoting greater involvement in their children's education and wider online lives for which big:interactive built the website(s) and ran a host of marketing and communcation campaigns. The project needed to reach out to parents who were less likely to be involved in school life (for a whole host of reasons) and so had to create new avenues of communication with them.

As the project proceeded, we ran focus groups with parents and teachers as well as speaking to schools that took part in Parents Online events. We decided that to reach a larger audience (especially those that might not be easily reached using school letters, etc.) we would need above the line advertising as well as competitions and the involvement of other community based organisations.

To promote Parents Online we created advertising and advertorial campaigns for both local and national press (the Sun, Mirror and the Guardian) as well as running competitions and participating in editorial tie-ups, such as with Carol Vordermann in the Mirror. We were instrumental in creating partnerships with business, such as Tesco (roadshows) and Kellogg's (on pack promotions) as well as Hewlett Packard (community based competitions). Other community-based collaborations included the Library Association, The Home Office, BT, and the Peabody Trust.