Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK)

the challenge

Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) turned to Action Global Communications in June 2020, seeking an integrated communications agency that would tell the department where they are going wrong in their communication to stakeholders and parents across traditional and digital communications, particularly with the education sector treading a fine line amid the COVID-19 pandemic and planning for a safe return to school.

our approach

One of Action’s first tasks following appointment was to help ADEK communicate a safe return to school for the first time since March 2020. Ahead of the 2020/21 academic year, a complicated stakeholder ecosystem accentuated widespread uncertainty as to how schools would re-open and ADEK was besieged with update requests from schools, educators and parents.

Action worked with ADEK to design and implement the ‘Have Your Say – Parents Survey’, which presented a number of scenarios and how the landscape might look, enabling parents and education stakeholders to have their say to help determine school re-opening strategies.

Action devised a multi-media approach to roll out awareness and engage key audience groups in the survey. As a result of these tactics, 160,000+ survey responses were achieved, 80 per cent of the total target group.

The survey helped create content for media, while the survey data helped form resultant school reopening strategies, which were in turned used to answer several media enquiries.

Action continued evolving and implementing PR and social media strategies for ADEK, which resulted in the agency being retained for 2021.