During the 2012 NAFSA Conference and Expo, the GoAbroad Team was pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 Innovation Awards. As part of a continued effort to recognize the hard work and dedication this year’s nominees, GoAbroad will be sharing individual features of the 2012 GoAbroad Innovation Awards finalists over the coming weeks. This week, we are thrilled to bring you the Innovation in Marketing finalists!
Please join us in congratulating the following finalist (and winner!) of the Innovation in Marketing Award:
EF International Language Centers
“Live the Language Films”
The “Live the language” films from EF International Language Centers were among the most talked about commercials in 2011-2012. Not backed by any impressive media budget, the “Live the Language” campaign became a massive hit in the design blogosphere and in social media. In the films, director Gustav Johansson uses his unique way of storytelling to capture the stories of seven different students who travel abroad to study with EF.
The films portray students as they arrive at their schools, make new friends, and begin “living the language”. Everywhere they go they communicate in the local language and pick up new vocabulary, illustrated with gorgeous artifact-style typography by Albin Holmqvist.
“Live the language” became a massive hit in the design blogosphere in 2011, and were among the most talked about commercials in 2011. Over 700 design blogs from Argentina to Japan wrote about the campaign, and thousands of tweets and social media postings helped the films reach 5 million video views – with virtually no media budget. The campaign has boosted the EF brand and helped the company strengthen its position as the world’s largest study abroad organization.