| Title | WHATSGERMAN |
| Brand | PLAN.NET GROUP |
| Product/Service | / |
| Category |
C02. Use of Mobile |
|
Entrant
|
SERVICEPLAN Munich, GERMANY
|
|
Idea Creation
|
SERVICEPLAN Munich, GERMANY
|
|
Idea Creation 2
|
PLAN.NET Munich, GERMANY
|
Credits
| Alexander Schill |
Serviceplan |
Chief Creative Officer |
| Markus Maczey |
Plan.Net |
Chief Creative Officer |
| Michael Reill |
Plan.Net |
Executive Creative Director |
| Axel Thomsen |
Plan.Net |
Executive Creative Director |
| Bernd Nagenrauft |
Plan.Net |
Creative Director |
| Friederike Froehlich |
Plan.Net |
Copywriter |
| Kathrin Vogl |
Plan.Net |
Copywriter |
| Andrea Prade |
Plan.Net |
Art Director |
| Verena Wenisch |
Plan.Net |
Account Manager |
| Kevin Wiekowski |
Plan.Net |
Art Assistant |
| Franz Roeppischer |
Serviceplan |
Creative Innovation Director |
| Lorenz Langgartner |
Plan.Net |
Creative Innovation Director |
The Campaign
WhatsGerman. Learning German on WhatsApp.
The key thing of WhatsGerman is that it is not a separate app that you first have to install and use on its own. It’s based on a well-known digital platform that’s already used a lot by refugees in order to stay in touch with their families: WhatsApp.
Upon registration with the smartphone on www.whatsgerman.de, you’ll receive a lesson each day consisting of text, explanatory emojis as well as videos for pronunciation.
Three successive courses are available:
Course 1 – The Alphabet enables you to get to know the Latin alphabet.
Course 2 – Daily Life makes daily living easier with useful vocabulary and short phrases about basic everyday subjects like shopping.
Course 3 – Basic Grammar offers an introduction to German grammar for advanced users.
These courses were developed for WhatsApp in cooperation with language teachers. Sofar they are available in English and Arabic.
Creative Execution
WhatsGerman started on December, 14th 2015 and is continuously updated.
WhatsGerman is not a separate app you have to install. It’s based on WhatsApp. Upon registration on www.whatsgerman.de, participants receive a lesson each day via WhatsApp consisting of text, emojis and videos.
The messages are sent with an external broadcasting service. The company offers a backend with which the project is controlled and statistics are evaluated.
It’s promoted with the help of print flyers and posters in refugee homes, social media and reporting/PR.
From NGOs like Caritas to magazines (Page, Vice), and leading national newspapers like BILD and radio stations as well. The medial success of WhatsGerman is based only on earned media.
Since early March Facebook is official partner of WhatsGerman providing a non-profit ad-campaign. WhatsGerman is also part of “Wir zusammen”, the refugee initiative of the German economy. It was featured in magazines and via TV ads.
Results
The first Facebook post about WhatsGerman was shared 1.400 times in two days and over 80.000 people registered in the first six weeks. That’s 17% of Arab-speaking refugees – and every day there are a thousand more. So, in the middle of April we had 122.000 participants. With a bounce rate of 0,01% the costumer loyality is high.
From NGOs like Caritas, to magazines (Page, Vice), and leading newspapers like BILD and radio stations e.g. Radio Bremen: The medial success of WhatsGerman is based on earned media.
Thanks to the media coverage, Facebook and the German economy`s refugee initiative “Wir zusammen” took notice of WhatsGerman and became partners. Facebook provides a non-profit ad-campaign, and “Wir zusammen” an increased media reach with ads in magazines and via TV.
But the biggest confirmation is the huge positive feedback from dozens of refugees using the course – often already written in German.
WhatsGerman is the first-ever language course for refugees on WhatsApp. Over 80.000 Arab-speaking refugees registered within the first six weeks. That`s a response quote of 17% concerning that 1,3 million refugees came to Germany in 2015. And every day there are a thousand more users. With a bounce rate of just 0,01% the costumer loyality is very high. WhatsGerman directly influences the participants’ behavior, because the they deal with the courses each day and thus can achieve rapid results. The offer is promoted directly to the refugees with flyers, posters, Word-of-Mouth within the refugee community and on Facebook.
Target group: More than a million refugees coming to German-speaking countries in 2015.
Relevance: WhatsGerman uses a channel the target group already has access to: WhatsApp. The use of emojis is typical for the communication via messengers, we utilize them to explain a foreign language. The application of video underlines that we made appropriate use of all WhatsApp features. The course contents (length, readability, choice of topics) were especially developed for WhatsApp.
Our strategy is based on 3 pillars: 1. Almost every refugee has a smartphone and uses WhatsApp; 2. as the waiting time for an official language course is 3 months, the duration of our offer is 3 months as well. Bridging this waiting time WhatsGerman offers an opportunity to learn German in a self-regulated way. 3. The lessons are currently available in English and Arabic in order to reach more than half of the refugees coming to Germany.