When we talk about television advertising in the context of education, it is important to realise that this is a much broader concept than it might seem at first glance. Most of us probably think of classic back-to-school commercial campaigns promoting brands that manufacture or distribute school uniforms, backpacks or teaching aids. However, this is not the only form of educational advertising – equally important are campaigns by educational institutions aimed at recruiting new students, or campaigns promoting modern educational technologies that support, for example, distance or leisure-time learning. Last but not least, public awareness campaigns also play a role here, especially when this narrative is embraced by national, transnational or non-profit organisations. Each of these types serves a different purpose and targets a distinct audience, which is reflected in variations in form, style and rhetoric.
Different countries, different customs
The roots of educational television advertising date back to the 1950s to 1970s, primarily in the US and Western Europe. Campaigns at that time were mainly a tool of the military-industrial complex – they often served to recruit for the army or to promote government programmes such as the GI Bill, which was designed to support the education of veterans. The first purely commercial back-to-school campaigns began appearing on television in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when major retail chains picked up the baton. Since 2000, advertisements have increasingly sought to present education as a life hack – a smart tool for achieving a better future. With the advent of edtech, the range of products that can be advertised is also expanding. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to this mosaic with an emphasis on distance learning, mental well-being and children’s motivation. Currently, education and advertising are increasingly taking place in a cross-media environment, where television is an important but not the only channel.
All these trends need to be viewed in the context of cultural differences. While European educational advertising is often civil and focused on equal opportunities or social inclusion, American advertising emphasises individualism, self-fulfilment and competitiveness. In India, education is seen as a tool for prestige and social responsibility – an investment that will ensure a better life for the whole family. In Latin America, the theme of social mobility dominates. Japan and South Korea emphasise discipline, perfectionism and performance. In contrast, in some parts of Africa, the key issue is simply ensuring access to education as such. Each cultural framework brings a different story, different heroes and different advertising strategies.
In short, different countries have different customs, and this is also reflected in the successful television advertising campaigns. Although the younger generation spends most of its time online, television still plays a key role in the education segment. Decisions about where and how a child will study often rest with parents or grandparents – generations that are still very receptive to the television format. Moreover, the television medium provides institutions with a certain degree of prestige, authority and credibility. This does not mean that educational advertising appears only on television today. It is often the starting point of a campaign, from which it branches out into a wide range of digital formats via QR codes, microsites or short videos on social media.
What does a successful educational advertising campaign look like in practice?
When two people do the same thing, it is not the same thing
Let’s start with the commercial back-to-school marketing. We have all encountered such campaigns, and if not, we will undoubtedly encounter them in the coming weeks. Within this subgenre of educational campaigns, the American retail giant Target has maintained a very strong position for a long time, with its back-to-school campaigns being a kind of summer marketing staple in the US. Many marketing analyses refer to the period between 2015 and 2020 as the peak phase of their visual campaigns, when they were particularly valued for the precise and diverse execution of their advertising spots. Year after year, Target served schoolchildren and their parents everything from energetic musical performances to spots reminiscent of short films, characterised by typical colourfulness and very inclusive casting. Target always creates a diverse media mix, which, in addition to TV commercials, also includes online videos, OOH advertising, social media advertising and real-time in-store experiences.
Video: Target ‘Back To School’ Commercial (2025)
Target’s marketing strategy was revolutionary because of its inclusive approach, which was not very common in the US, especially in the context of education. Suddenly, Target’s adverts featured teenagers of different ethnicities and skin colours, as well as children with disabilities. In the spirit of American individualism, going back to school was presented as a pivotal moment in every student’s annual cycle. The adverts often went viral, mainly thanks to their massive cross-media presence. For Target, this meant a significant increase in engagement on social media in some years, as well as recognition from the marketing community at prestigious events. Some of them are still perceived today as a benchmark for the genre and a major cultural event that puts the world of education on a par with the world of fashion.
Video: Larsen Thompson | Target Back to School | 2012
Another similarly formative advertising campaign can be found in the land down under – but it earned its reputation in a completely different way than Target’s pop culture machinery. In Australia, Smiggle is seen as synonymous with colourful school supplies. Its relatively atypical target audience is tweens, i.e. children between the ages of 6 and 12, not their parents. This is reflected in the aesthetics of one of the brand’s most striking campaigns from 2018. Its centrepiece was a lively and playful TV commercial in which children enthusiastically prepare for the start of the new school year while presenting their unique Smiggle products. In this case, the comparison with fashion show catwalks is obvious.
Video: Back To School Is Better With Smiggle
These two campaigns clearly highlight the contrast between the American and Australian approaches. While the American campaign is largely aimed at parents, Smiggle’s campaign is based entirely on presenting the children’s perspective – parents find themselves in a passive position, where they either accept it or reject it. The aesthetics refer in many ways to popular children’s animated formats, which is also reflected in the additional content, including children’s competitions and collaboration with child influencers. Thanks to this campaign, Smiggle has become extremely popular not only in Australia but also in New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Through the self-expression of the child protagonists and the motif of peer pressure, it has established itself in these countries as the embodiment of “coolness” in primary and secondary schools. In short, not having Smiggle at the time was almost like not existing at all.
Video: Back to School | We are ready with Smiggle!
Indian start-up conquers the world
In 2011, a revolution took place in India that would transform the future of education around the world. Byju’s, a young technology start-up that had previously focused on preparing students for international exams, launched an educational mobile app and online platform for teaching mathematics, science, English and other subjects. This move made Byju’s one of the world’s leading players in edtech – the business sector that focuses on the development, distribution and sale of modern educational technologies.
Video: BYJU’S - The Learning App | Fall in Love With Learning!
In an environment obsessed with education, this marketing strategy proved to be very effective. This was later confirmed by its success beyond India’s borders. In its home country, Byju’s became a nationwide phenomenon – brand awareness after the launch of the campaign in major Indian cities reached over 70%, which was one of the prerequisites for further expansion, first to the US and later to the UK and the Middle East. In 2019, the app had approximately 35 million users, and by the end of 2022, that number had grown to nearly 120 million. Byju’s continues to carefully cultivate its brand – its subsequent commercials featured legends such as Disney animated characters and Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan. The company has also partnered with global sports organisations such as the ICC and FIFA and has become an official sponsor of the Cricket and Football World Cups. It has thus risen from the Indian slums to the limelight of the international scene.
We are all working towards a common goal
All of the above examples are the work of entities for which education is closely linked to individual responsibility for one’s own future. The reasons for this approach may vary, but the basic model is similar. Europeans, however, think differently; education is traditionally considered a public good, and we largely expect the state to provide us with access to it. It is therefore no surprise that one of the most striking campaigns of this type of institutional advertising was created by the BBC.
Video: BBC Bitesize App | Commercial Film Director Claire Norowzian | The Visionaries
During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically in the spring of 2020, it significantly expanded its free educational platform BBC Bitesize. In addition to the existing online content, a completely new television educational format called Bitesize Daily was created, intended for school-age children throughout the United Kingdom. Other educational programmes, such as Lockdown Learning, which combined expert commentary with popular figures from British culture, science and sport, were also broadcast. The aim was to motivate children, reassure parents and provide families with the support they needed during distance learning. All BBC platforms were flooded with short motivational spots during this period, encouraging pupils, their parents and teachers to use BBC Bitesize. These were usually appearances by well-known British personalities – such as Jodie Whittaker, David Attenborough and Danny Dyer – who told children that learning can be manageable even in a crisis and that they are not alone in this. Many of the spots were accompanied by simple animations and instructions on how to use the platform.
The public’s extraordinary trust in the BBC as an institution also played a significant role in the campaign’s success. If anyone in the UK was to provide a unifying moment in a time of crisis, it was the BBC. The results came relatively quickly – by April 2020, Bitesize was reporting more than 5 million online users per week, an unprecedented figure in education. The campaign won recognition from school unions and the British media, and its impact was also positively assessed by Ofsted. After the pandemic subsided, the BBC Bitesize platform did not disappear. Even today, it remains a key pillar of the digital education ecosystem in the United Kingdom. In 2024, the BBC announced that it would invest an additional £6 million in its further development, including personalisation, the use of artificial intelligence and the creation of interactive teaching elements. Bitesize has thus definitively become not only a crisis tool, but a fully-fledged educational authority of the digital age.
Video: BBC Bitesize 'Flat Earther' 2023
In 2023, the French Ministry of Education launched a highly emotional institutional campaign called Un professeur, ça change la vie pour toute la vie (A teacher changes your life forever). The centrepiece of the campaign was a film-style television commercial in which a doctor accidentally meets her former teacher during a busy day – and, overcome with emotion, is unable to thank her. In retrospect, we see how this teacher played a key role in her self-confidence and career choice. The advert thus conveys a powerful message that the role of a teacher does not end with the last lesson but can have a lasting impact on a person’s entire life.
Video: A teacher changes your life forever
Like the BBC in the UK, the French Ministry of Education used the trust that the public traditionally places in state education in its campaign. The spots were broadcast on major television stations such as France 2, France Télévisions, M6 and TF1, and were also shared by dozens of schools, associations and regional authorities. The aim of the campaign was not only to increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession – it was equally important to highlight the long-term social value of teaching, which is seen as a key stabilising factor in the context of modern crises (and the associated exodus of workers from the education sector). The campaign became one of the media highlights of the public sector in education in 2023. This project also managed to use the language of advertising to convey trust, respect and a specific political message – and showed that state institutions are still capable of speaking clearly and powerfully to all generations.
Potential largely untapped in the Czech Republic
Educational advertisements are, of course, nothing new to Czech television viewers or streaming platform subscribers. However, domestic production is limited mainly to two relatively predictable genres – commercial campaigns by chains and brands selling school supplies and marketing communications by educational institutions and think tanks. In the back-to-school campaign category, a notable player is the electronics retailer Alza.cz, which regularly promotes special offers on laptops and other useful devices through its mascot Alzák. Brands such as IKEA, which have long focused on student housing, operate similarly.
Video: A better school year by a class at alza.sk
Over time, there has been an increase in the number of cases where universities (not only private ones) create digital spots or videos for social media, presenting everything from their academic community and study programmes to pop culture topics. In addition to private schools, Masaryk University in Brno, the Czech University of Agriculture and the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague are also active in this area. Some initiatives by Czech Television, such as ČT edu and the One World in Schools project, can also be seen as examples of public contributions to this debate. However, these belong more to the realm of educational campaigns, which are characterised by a certain television and promotional presence, but primarily function as digital content intended for schools.
Video: Video of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
Today, educational advertising is far more than just a tool for promoting school supplies or university programmes. In many countries, it is becoming a means of communicating social values, reflecting cultural priorities and strengthening confidence in the very principle of education as a public good. It is precisely this ability to combine practical messages with an ideological framework that makes it a communication discipline with ambitions to transcend the seasonal marketing cycle. In the Czech environment, however, these ambitions remain largely untapped – and this is where marketers have an opportunity to creatively fill the gap in a way that is appropriate and context-sensitive. School does not have to be just a routine – it can also be a topic that resonates, inspires and connects.