Title	READIFICATION
Brand	DE LEESCOALITIE
Product/Service	A NEW IDEA TO GET CHILDREN TO READ AGAIN.
Category	B05. Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility
Entrant	2BASICS B.V. Haarlem, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation	2BASICS B.V. Haarlem, THE NETHERLANDS
Media Placement	2BASICS B.V. Haarlem, THE NETHERLANDS
PR	2BASICS B.V. Haarlem, THE NETHERLANDS
Production	2BASICS B.V. Haarlem, THE NETHERLANDS
Production 2	UBISOFT BENELUX: Utrecht, THE NETHERLANDS
Post Production	2BASICS B.V. Haarlem, THE NETHERLANDS
Additional Company	DE LEESCOALITIE Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

Name	Company	Position
Kevin Loos	2Basics	Creative and co-writer of the case
Ruben Houkes	2Basics	Together with Kevin loos, creative/creator of 'Readification'
Frieda Ulsamer de Waard	2Basics	Advisor
Janita Veenstra	2Basics	Project lead
Marcel key	Ubisoft Benelux	Contact person Ubisoft
Walter Drega	Ubisoft Benelux	Contact person Ubisoft
Eveline Aendekerk	CPNB	Initial client/ contact person
Esther Scholten	CPNB	Main contact person at CPNB
Gerlien van Dalen	The Leescoalitie (the Reading Alliance)	Contact person The Leescoalitie (The Reading Alliance)
Ronald Giphart	Ronald Giphart	Writer of the published story
Margje Woodrow	Margje Woodrow	Writer of of the published story
Ben Allossery	Make it Epic	Responsible for designer/production of the visuals and the integration of the stories in the Ubisoft app
Kim Wassenaar	2Basics	Project management
Patrick Daams	2Basics	Project management

Why is this work relevant for Creative Strategy?

How can we make reading attractive again for adolescents? By using the world where they spend most of their free time: the world of gaming. We connected the organization that is responsible for the promotion of reading in the Netherlands to one of the leading game developers in the world: Ubisoft. Dutch authors Ronald Giphart and Margje Woodrow wrote 'hidden stories' behind Assassin's Creed Valhalla, one Ubisoft’s best-selling games. The stories, enhanced with video and audio clips, were published in the existing Ubisoft Special-app, introducing ‘Readification’ and bringing the worlds of gaming and literature together.

Background

Reading is more than just a hobby. It trains our minds and improves our thinking. Reading is especially important for children and adolescents, for whom this brain-activation supports the development of cognitive skills. But Dutch teens read less and less. Almost half (42%) of the Dutch 15-year-olds think that reading is a waste of time. 63% reads only if they have to. As a result, their reading skills decline. 18% of the 15-year-olds are at risk of leaving school with a substandard language level. This has consequences for their functioning at school and in society, and ultimately for the functioning of our society as a whole. We want to reverse this trend by leveraging the interests of adolescents. Gaming, a favorite pastime seems the perfect match. SITUATION BRIEF OBJECTIVE How can we create positive connotations with reading amongst adolescent, so that their reading activity will increase?

Interpretation (30% of vote)

Adolescents between the ages of 15-18 read less and less. Their pleasure in reading is decreasing. The perception that reading is a waste of time and an obligation, increases annually. This is a dangerous trend, because a low reading literacy leads to a general disadvantage in life. Previous attempts to increase the reading enjoyment of this group have mostly been successful within the group that already reads more than average. This campaign was the first time gaming was treated not as a threat to reading behavior, but as a possible way to improve and increase it. By utilizing the storylines and platforms of one of the world’s biggest games, we offered a large group of teens a new reading experience. We introduced reading to adolescents in a new and attractive way, with the aim of increasing their enjoyment of reading. The campaign ran from May 11th to June 30th, 2021.

Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

The greatest challenge was to find an attractive way to introduce the literary world to teenagers. We searched for worlds and subjects that adolescents find interesting. Then we offered a form of reading that would fit with how teens these days consume their content, thereby lowering the threshold to read. The public opinion about gaming is often negative. It is said to isolate teenagers. To be addictive and unhealthy. In short: when it comes to social issues, gaming is often seen as the enemy. During this campaign, we instead embraced gaming, joining forces with game publisher Ubisoft. Our target group spends much of its free time on their platforms. Many Ubisoft games have an elaborate and realistic storyline, that the players of the game want to learn about in detail. The partnership provided The Reading Alliance the opportunity to use the licensing rights of the popular game Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Creative Idea (20% of vote)

We developed a new way to promote reading, by using a popular game and its associated fictional world as the basis for new stories. This way, we brought together the worlds of literature and gaming. To enrich the reading experience, the written stories were supported by images and audio fragments from the game that reflected the storyline. This in-app reading of audio-visually enhanced stories, we have named Readification. The written stories were inspired by the world, storyline and characters of the game Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The stories were written by well-known Dutch authors. The two stories written for this campaign were published in the free Ubisoft Special-app. This Dutch app has 100.000 users. In the app, digital magazines are released, in which gamers can read about the characters and storylines of different games based on short introductions. Both written stories were prominently featured on the main page of the app.

Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

We measured the impact of Readification in two ways: 1. Through the analytics of the app. 2. Obtained from research by GfK (a global market intelligence agency) conducted under 212 adolescents aged 15-18. The app results: · 75.066 story-downloads · 90,4% positive rating · Media reach: 45.861.502 impressions, including: - 526.000 views on TikTok (trending Dutch TikTok) - Airtime on RTL Nieuws (prime time TV Journal), Goedemorgen Nederland (most viewed TV morning show) - Coverage in the top 5 national Dutch newspapers GfK: · 4 out of 10 respondents indicated the stories stimulated them to read more. · Of the teens who do not read printed books, 30% expected to start reading after reading the stories. · 63% says they enjoy being able to read stories that indirectly provide more information about the games. · · 54% indicated being likely to read more stories in the app in the future.

Please tell us how the brand purpose inspired the work

A lot has already been done to prevent non-reading by various parties promoting reading. Often, the adolescents reached are those who already read above averagely much. This campaign marked the first time the literary and gaming worlds embraced each other. And that there are written stories that are set in a world the target group recognizes, published on a platform the target group could already be found. A similar collaboration, and the issuance of a product like Readification Stories, had not previously been developed in this market.