British Council IELTS were looking to partner with an agency who would operate as an extension of their team; providing a range of outputs according to changing pressures and objectives. IELTS is the International English Language Testing System and is widely used to assess the English-speaking ability of prospective university students and workers.

British Council IELTS commissioned Kenyons to nurture a positive profile for the organisation, positioning the brand as a trusted provider of IELTS learning and test taking.

British Council IELTS has a number of products to support test takers in their ambitions to achieve the IELTS score they need. These resources help to demonstrate the informed and understanding position of the organisation and these benefits need to be included in outgoing communications.

To build the positive profile and raise awareness of products, we collaboratively produced a variety of content, including animated video case studies, with accompanying press releases and outreach activity to gain the coverage it deserves. We worked closely with the British Council IELTS team to plan a timeline of activities to engage target audiences and:

• Raise awareness


• Support improvements in internal culture


• Drive traffic to specific (online) destinations


• Increase positive sentiment towards the brand

Kenyons gained significant media coverage for British Council IELTS and successfully raised the profile of their new suite of learning materials and products. PR approaches included:

• Delving into and using data to create stories that gain media coverage.


• Influencer outreach – reaching out to IELTS influencers (bloggers, vloggers, podcasters and social media influencers), and supporting them to share British Council infographics, videos and articles – engaging with students and those seeking to work overseas.


• International media engagement – forging relationships with journalists in regions where public relations activity was highlighted as a strategic priority.

Alongside our monthly retained work with British Council IELTS, we also worked on a separate campaign to promote their annual IELTS Prize. The IELTS Prize is a competition, open to students from select countries, which awards its winners £3,000 towards fees to attend a university where the IELTS test is part of the admissions criteria.

To encourage IELTS test takers to apply for the IELTS Prize, our creative PR team produced a range of creative content designed to promote the competition and call eligible entrants to action. This content included:

• Video case studies, featuring former IELTS Prize winners


• Written versions of these case studies


• Infographics, highlighting the key criteria and benefits of entering


• A live Q&A event, hosted on Zoom and featuring previous IELTS Prize winners as guest speakers


• Global and localised press releases

Our IELTS Prize campaign resulted in high-quality coverage across global and localised outlets in participating countries, including in Times Higher Education, one of the most widely read education media outlets.

Our video case studies and infographics were promoted across British Council IELTS’ social media channels, and our live event was attended by potential entrants to the prize and allowed us to communicate the key criteria and benefits of applying to them.

Kenyons also provided reactive PR support to British Council IELTS to help manage their public response to the COVID-19 pandemic, providing prepared responses and strategic messaging support.