Study in the Far East

Fewer and fewer adolescents rely on information from the radio, television or daily paper. They use the Internet instead. To attract attention to the range of offers at universities and colleges in eastern Germany, Aperto developed a web-based advertising campaign. Among other things, the “Study in the Far East” campaign is marked by its close collaboration with Germany’s largest student community, schülerVZ, and the video platform sevenload.

 

The Task

The initiators wanted to reach as many adolescents as possible with the campaign and arouse their interest in pursuing studies in the new German states. The website’s design had to appeal to a very young target group while also providing a search engine for specific information about the different universities.

The Solution

For “Study in the Far East”, Aperto developed a campaign that picks kids up right where they hang out nearly everyday: on the net. Aperto does without conventional advertising methods here, concentrating instead on interactive online dissemination through microblogging, social bookmarking and social communities.

Together with students, Aperto tested the search engine for university study programmes—a key element on the website. Its further development was then based on their feedback. Original questions and interactive features help school graduates find a suitable course of studies at the right university in eastern Germany. Aperto integrated the study programme search engine in the schülerVZ community, linking it with the profiles of users and universities.

Teachers, parents and journalists can find the campaign at www.hochschulinitiative.de, where information on the subject of studying in East Germany is provided.

The Magnolia editorial system serves as the website’s technical basis. The accompanying campaign blog was implemented with Wordpress.

Cooperation with Germany’s largest student community, schülerVZ, and the sevenload video platform also increased the scope of the campaign and generated attention in the online media. Aperto carried out the campaign in collaboration with Scholz&Friends Agenda.

“Study in the Far East” is a campaign contracted on behalf of the university initiative in the new German states. Its purpose is to provide nationwide information on the range of offers available at institutions of higher learning in the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. A total of 44 universities took part in the initiative.