Our goal is to establish “Professor S.” as a brand. Teachers should associate “Professor S.” with a constructive, helpful and easy-to-organise way of teaching. Parents should perceive “Professor S.” as a tool that can motivate their children to learn. They need to be aware that they can experience the success of learning and the world of the stories we create together with their children. For the kids, “Professor S.” should simply be fun. To achieve this, we need a well thought-out campaign that prepares and accompanies the building of the brand in a structured way.
We believe that the most effective marketing is word of mouth - teachers recommending "Professor S." to other teachers. Because of work within the schools over the past four years and also through our consultants, we have direct access to school principals and to the senate in Berlin. Therefore, we can introduce and present the product along with the recommendation and support of the schools and administrators. To support the market introduction of “Professor S.” in other federal districts of Germany, we are simultaneously developing content for additional products (like “The Wildemouse”, which is targeted at grades 1 through 3).
Our cooperation with the academy for children’s media is helpful for the market introduction. We are developing “The Wildemouse”, our game for the second grade of elementary school in partnership with the academy. The content of the game is created not only by LudInc but also by participants of the academy, with ties to professionals all over Germany. The academy’s partnership with schools in Thuringia will also help to introduce the game in that region.
Together with the agencies Schiebe Preil Bayer and Literaturtest, we plan to gradually increase the public exposure of “Professor S.” Press releases, interviews, guest lectures and strategic trade show appearances will support these efforts. The most important trade shows are Learntec (2014 in Karlsruhe) and Didakta (2014 in Stuttgart). Our presence there will be supported through targeted SEO, community management, blogging and social networking presences. Press work will begin in January 2014 (with the beginning of the second half of the school year 2013/2014) and intensify during the Learntec and Didakta trade shows. The second phase of marketing starts with the release of the platform for the beginning of the school year 2014/2015.
School principals and teachers have already enthusastically received “Professor S.” during its test phase in Berlin. Therein lies one of our main strengths: “Professor S.” has already establish itself as a quality educational product at schools in Berlin. The fact that “Professor S.” is now an established part of the school program at Kolumbus primary school illustrates this point. Our experiences during the test phase in Berlin have shown, that word of mouth among teachers are effective and lasting tools to help establish the brand “Professor S.” Personal meetings with teachers or a presentations at a schools would consistently achieve a conversion rate of 50%.
In the home market, customers of LudInc products are primarily mothers and fathers with children between the ages of 6 and 11, as well as givers of gifts (grandparents, relatives, god parents and friends). Especially mothers exchange their experiences among each other and help spread trends like “Professor S.” through word of mouth and online networks like Facebook. Online advertising and Facebook messages targeting this specific group are therefore one of the most effective and cost-efficient channels of advertising.
Of course, the traditional press and media outlets will be targeted as well. Our strategy in this regard is divided into three phases of communication:
Every phase will be accompanied by appearances and presentations at trade-shows and conventions, starting with Didacta 2014.