Television and Internet Campaign on Channel-2 and Mako Targeting Parents of Teenagers to Encourage them to Support their Children’s Efforts to Study Five-Unit Mathematics

Keshet will run a multi-platform mixed-media campaign, culminating in a week of special broadcasts before the matriculation exams

Keshet will run a multi-platform mixed-media campaign, culminating in a week of special broadcasts before the matriculation examsLooking Afar

Call For Action

Grant amount

NIS 1,050,000

Grant term

One year

Date of Approval

January 2016

Status

Completed

Project Website

The campaign site in Mako

One would assume that parents have a reduced influence on children in their teenage years; however, focus groups we conducted in 2012 showed that this is not the case and that parental encouragement and expectations remain very important. A comprehensive study conducted in 2015 by the Ministry of Education reinforces this notion, as it reveals that teens see their parents as the most influential factor in the decision regarding whether to study advanced mathematics. The study showed that parents have more impact than friends, the mathematics teacher or the homeroom teacher. In addition, the study found significant correlation between the level of parental encouragement and the likelihood that students study five units.This finding supports the recommendation by the foundation’s Advisory Council in 2014 to expand the communication strategy to target high school students and their parents via television. In light of the above, we approached Keshet, the largest commercial television franchise of Israel’s Channel-2, and owner of the leading news website MAKO and showed them the findings.

As a result, Keshet decided to prioritize this issue, to include it in their ‘corporate social responsibility’ portfolio and to invest their own resources in a collaborative endeavor with the foundation.

This joined plan, which is proposed here, will be conducted by Keshet’s non-profit arm, “Looking Afar”, an association which administers their social and educational activity. They propose to run a multi-platform mixed-media campaign over three months in 2016, culminating in a week of special broadcasts in the run up to the matriculation exams in May. The nature of the programming will be both content-based and promotional, for example:

interviews on primetime chat shows;
regular item on a morning talk show featuring a parenting expert offering advice on how to encourage adolescents to persevere with their studies;
interviews with 5-unit students on their experience;
designated segments on the “People” show featuring opinion leaders, successful hi-tech entrepreneurs, IDF commanders of technological units, cultural heroes, and sportsmen, who have studied 5-unit mathematics and can discuss the benefits of persevering with 5-unit mathematics;
a series of “fillers” between programs (including primetime) which direct to the designated campaign website, featuring well-known actors and celebrities;
a “5 doors” campaign – which exposes the advantages and future possibilities for students who learn 5-unit mathematics;
a special day of broadcasts before the mathematics matriculation, and a corresponding internet campaign with blog posts and features on the MAKO website.

The target audience is the parents of 5-unit mathematics students, therefore the program will highlight the critical role of parental support in students’ perseverance and success in 5-unit mathematics, and will raise awareness of the importance of advanced mathematics study for their children’s future. It will reinforce the idea that parents are very influential in maximizing their children’s potential for excellence and that it is worthwhile to invest hard work in 5-unit mathematics.

* The text above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 175

Vision & Mission

Advisory Council

Sustainable Infrastructure