How Practically skyrocketed to 1.5mn installs with the ‘Scan Anything’ feature

Brand Introduction

Practically is an experiential learning app designed for students in classes of 6th-12th with a focus on STEM learning. Addressing the needs of all kinds of learners, the app combines game engines, immersive learning assets, innovative features, and AI-assisted study buddy.

Campaign Overview

With an aim to bring learning alive from books and everyday objects around us Practically has launched an innovative feature ‘Scan Anything.’ The latest feature supported by Artificial Intelligence identifies objects scanned by the phone camera and lists results from its vast content library of 3000+ 3D videos, 1000+ simulations experiences, and 30,000 3D models, sorted by a student’s curriculum and grade.

The ‘Scan Anything’ feature can recognize pictures, questions, exercises and proofs from textbooks, magazines, newspapers including capturing images of any surrounding objects and presenting linked curriculum learning information on the app for the learners to pick their learning journey and resolve doubts instantly.

The feature encourages students to learn from their surroundings while rendering a truly immersive learning experience from everyday objects and helps them understand how the learning from their curriculum is tied to everyday observations. The dynamic feature covers course content from textbooks of grades 6-12^th across major boards like NCERT, CBSE and state boards of AP, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh. Other major boards like IGCSE and IB are also in the pipeline.

Objective

To launch the unique AI-led ‘Scan Anything’ feature for Indian consumers
Establish the narrative of being the world’s first EdTech to launch this feature
Create awareness about the feature and build a connection with consumers showcasing its ease of usage
Increase app installations, engagement, and feature acceptance.

Brief

As it is widely believed that learning is all around us, children are encouraged to observe and learn from their surroundings. Practically decided to take this belief a notch further and demonstrate that learning from daily objects was not just a figment of imagination but absolutely possible in the real world. Hence the task at hand was to introduce the ‘Scan Anything’ feature to the TG audience.

Creative Idea

Whenever children stumble upon a doubt or their curiosity is triggered to learn about something, they take to searching on the internet which sometimes does not throw up relevant results leaving the child confused. The campaign captured this insight and positioned the scan anything feature as the new age methodology to scan & learn as compared to the outdated search & learn. Leading to the campaign thought of #StopSearchingStartScanning.

Challenges

The TG audience for the campaign was students of 6-12 grades and their parents. Consumers and customers are different in EdTech, so the marketing challenge is always to create a campaign that appeals to both sets of audiences. The other challenge was communication in a cluttered market, given the amount of SOV by competition in this space of late. Hence the challenge was also to develop communication that breaks the clutter and gets noticed. Given its experiential feature, one also had to overcome the demo challenge, especially without on-ground activations, to showcase the feature and this had to be achieved on a limited budget.

This revolutionary feature in India had to be introduced to the market in a manner that not only generates awareness but also uses the medium to demonstrate its experiential capabilities.

Execution

Given the need to promote this world’s first revolutionary Scan Anything feature, the campaign was digital-first with a robust focus on print. The entire campaign look & feel was developed to get the perfect balance of keeping the world-class tech and product offering as the hero and at the same time appeal to Practically’s target audience which likes to see communication that is light, snackable and fun. To make the feature believable and showcase its robustness, they designed the print ad in a manner that users could try out this innovative feature straight out of the ad. A well-oiled integrated marketing campaign, sans TV and celebrity was deployed alongside robust print, social and influencer push which ensured the KPIs were well achieved in time.

The entire campaign was meticulously planned in four phases starting from teaser to launch, post-launch and sustenance. Each stage of the campaign was timed in a manner that all mediums of communication seamlessly continued to contribute to generating a high brand recall through interesting content and also drive engagement, without fatigue setting in.

Scan Anything campaign launched on Digital

The campaign opened with a round of teasers on social media on the 6^thof September 2021. On the 13^thof September, the digital campaign kickstarted with the launch of two films on YouTube – Scan Anything Video1 and Video2. The hashtag #StopSearchingStartScanning was introduced, and the films centered around the new feature of the app “tech as the hero” showcasing the benefits and the ease of usage. Posts on social media were crafted around introducing the feature, showcasing benefits and use cases to educate the users on the same.

Simultaneous Press Release Outreach

A national press release was disseminated around the campaign proposition of #StopSearchingStartScanning that appeared in top mainlines from Times of India to Business World Education on 13^th September, further accelerating visibility for the overall campaign.

National Print Campaign Activated

This was aligned with a robust national print campaign. Print ads every week for 3 weeks in leading national and regional dailies were planned to drive awareness and credibility. There were 65+ insertions. The advertising content was uniquely designed to make people engage with the feature. People could scan and experience the feature at the tap of a button which drove the virality of the campaign. On 29th September, 2 weeks into the campaign alongside the second print insertion, #ScanAnythingPractically trended at #4 on Twitter

Social Media Influencer Strategy

A robust influencer plan with a mix of celebs, micro and macro influencers at a pan India level was also executed to create buzz on social media. All of it ensured that the campaign became a resounding success and exceeded the objective it was intended for.

Results

Quantitative

From 4 Lakh downloads before the campaign in just over a month the app crossed the dream 1.5 million milestone, an indication of the feature/product acceptance and marketing impact.
On average, the feature is getting 10-15k scans every day with the highest being recorded at 33k on the day of the first print ad. Total Scans till date have been over 7 Lakhs
The audience reach via the Influencer campaign was over 6 million
Recently Practically hit a new high of more than 2 Lakh MAU (Monthly Active Users)

Qualitative

Practically has also seen a 2X growth in terms of search volumes
#ScanAnythingPractically trended at #4 on Twitter on September 29, 2021 showcasing the virality of the campaign
Practically app also broke in the ‘Top 10 education apps in India’ on Google Play store during the campaign

Mahadev Srivatsa, Vice President – Marketing & Brand Strategy, Practically shares, “It is indeed a recognition of the smart work and strategic planning that has driven the app growth. Delighted to be a part of this exciting journey that saw us go from 1 Lakh downloads to 5 Lakh downloads and now eventually 1.5 million downloads. All these milestones were achieved in the last year alone which shows the likeability of the product and the impact of our brand-building efforts. With this growing brand stature, we aim to achieve 3 million installs and then 5 million eventually accelerating our programs in a phased manner.”