Big Communications wins big for ‘Teachers are the Real Influencers’ campaign

MONTOMGERY – Birmingham-based strategic communications firm Big Communications, on behalf of The Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE), announced today that its early 2023 campaign, ‘We Teach Alabama — Teachers are the Real Influencers,’ has earned multiple honors in the 11th Annual Education Digital Marketing Awards. These annual awards recognize outstanding achievements in digital marketing within the education sector.  

Big’s integrated ALSDE campaign received two Gold awards in Employee or Staff Recruitment and Total Digital Marketing Program, as well as two Silver awards in Social Media Content — Campaign and Institutional Website — Update/Refresh. These entries were selected from a pool of more than 1,000 submitted by colleges, universities and secondary schools from across the country. 

A panel of judges, consisting of education marketers, advertising creative directors and marketing and advertising professionals, selected award recipients. 

The ‘Teachers are the Real Influencers’ campaign launched on March 2, 2023, and represented  the most recent of ALSDE’s ongoing Alabama teacher recruitment efforts. The campaign included  multiple advertising and public relations efforts targeting high school and college students,  including social media, YouTube ad spots, pre-roll and display advertising and highlighted the  fun, engaging and entertaining aspects of a teacher’s work that is more relatable to a younger target audience.  

“Like many states across the country, Alabama continues to face a teacher shortage and needs continued focus on recruiting new talent to the education field,” said Alabama State Superintendent of Education, Dr. Eric Mackey. “To capture the attention of passionate members of the next generation and beyond — frequently referred to as Gen Z — we want to remind them how important teachers are to our future, both as a state and as individuals.” 

“Working alongside Dr. Mackey and team to extend their recruitment efforts was a professional highlight of Big’s 2023, and we are proud of our success in helping to grow Alabama’s future teacher pipeline,” said Big CEO and Founder, John Montgomery.  

A past recipient of AdAge’s Small Agency of the Year Award, Big is a Birmingham-based independent, integrated communications agency.