Government Organization
New Media Unit of the UK government
UK government leveraging partnership ads to drive awareness of the UK free breakfast club program
The UK Government’s New Media Unit (NMU) at the Cabinet Office has launched a campaign around the Department for Education's new free breakfast club program aimed at ensuring children start their school day ready to learn. Free breakfast clubs mean no child starts school hungry and will help set children up for the day by providing a nutritious breakfast as well as time with friends to enjoy activities such as reading and crafts. For parents, free breakfast clubs mean help with childcare at the start of the school day – at no extra costs. It means those parents can drop their children off half an hour earlier – helping parents get into work, giving them up to 95 additional hours back to juggle busy mornings, and saving working families up to £450 a year. The long-term goals of the UK Government are broken into 5 missions, and this campaign addresses the opportunity mission “Break down barriers to opportunity.”
Challenge
The key marketing challenge was raising awareness of the new free breakfast club program in a crowded and fast-paced information landscape. With families and schools already receiving numerous messages from various initiatives, ensuring this program stood out and reached its intended audience through effective communication strategies and targeted outreach was a priority for the NMU.
Solution
The NMU worked with OmniGOV at MG OMD to develop a strategy that was centered around using key creators within the parenting space and partnership ads on Facebook and Instagram to amplify their voices and drive awareness of this new initiative. The NMU was able to use creators' voices and their own individual opinions on the scheme, highlighting the impact on their own lives. The ad format also allowed the NMU to tag the creators in the ad, thereby adding elements of authenticity, and leverage additional signals from the creator’s profile. To measure the impact of this route, the NMU and OmniGOV at MG OMD used Meta’s brand lift study solution.
Results*
The brand lift study proved that Partnership ads aided in driving recall and mission alignment of the Free Breakfast campaign. The results confirmed the importance that creator-led content and partnership ads can have on campaign performance.
+4.8ppts
Uplift in ad recall
+6.9%
Uplift in Mission Alignment
+135%
Views versus Generic Assets
Learnings
1. Inspire creators with a great brief containing clear campaign goals: A great brief aims to define brand objectives and states the desired outcomes upfront.
2. Discover the right creator to amplify your brand's story: NMU sought to find creators that were relevant to their audience.
3. Let your creator’s unique voice shine: Your creator is more effective at selling your brand’s product if they tell your brand’s product story in their own voice. Co-create with your creators to strike a balance between their point of view and your brand's goals.
4. Use partnership ads to help with widening reach: NMU and OmniGOV at MG OMD used partnership ads to widen the reach of their campaign message
5. Measure to understand the impact: Understanding the impact of our activity is key. Make sure to identify the right measurement approach to understand if your approach has achieved your goals.
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