New members and campaigning success for National Education Union

Brief

Following a recommendation, the NEU expressed an interest in securing more members through innovative digital marketing with Distract. With the challenges presented by the pandemic, the NEU also shifted much of its focus onto campaigns relating to school-age children and parents. The union highlighted important issues and campaigns it felt its members agreed with. This included a number of issues including government policies and subsequent petitions the organisation wanted to present to influence change for the better.

Approach

We took control of the NEU’s advertising output across social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat,  TikTok and YouTube. We also broke new ground, becoming the first digital marketing agency in the UK to utilise the innovative new Huawei ads platform. Using content strengthened by the client’s production capabilities, we were able to manage the rollout of high-profile campaigns such as the videos urging parents to sign a petition against testing five year olds in school. 

This particular campaign, presented by comedian Zoe Lyons, was aimed at parents, but other campaigns feature content geared towards teachers and sometimes students too.

Results

The team’s efforts garnered around 10,000 signatures, which is the minimum amount needed to be raised in UK Parliament and be discussed. 

We also achieved amplification across all social media platforms, integral to progressing the issues raised by the NEU. Visibility is incredibly important to campaigns such as this, so to see greater reach is key to seeing a petition or particular cause taking off.