Brain Chase

Case Study: Brain Chase Introduces Summer “Adventure Learning”

February 23, 2016 by The Motherhood

In early 2015, to help raise awareness and encourage sign-ups for a new “summer learning challenge” called Brain Chase – an online adventure designed to keep kids at the top of their academic game over the summer and avoid learning loss – The Motherhood engaged 50 bloggers with kids in the program’s target age range, including former educators, moms who homeschool and moms who have kids with learning disabilities.

Because Brain Chase was a brand-new service, The Motherhood first worked with the blogger team to distribute a consumer survey, gathering feedback that could help the company plan its marketing efforts. Using survey data from nearly 400 respondents, The Motherhood and Brain Chase worked together to create a strategic three-part activation for the team of 50 bloggers:

The campaign began with a live virtual briefing session to connect the bloggers directly with the Brain Chase creators and give them detailed insights into the summer learning challenge. The virtual briefing allowed the bloggers to ask questions and see exactly how the adventure learning would unfold for kids during the summer program – a crucial piece of the campaign for the bloggers, so they could adequately describe Brain Chase to their readers.

Using that background and key messaging, along with fresh topics and prompts for each blog post, the team participated in a series of blog tours. They each published one blog post each month for three months to maintain a steady drumbeat of news, raise awareness about summer learning loss, and position Brain Chase as a fun and educational solution leading up to the kickoff of the service in June 2015.

Campaign bloggers and their communities also participated in two strategically timed Twitter parties to spotlight the service on social media and highlight particular moments in time, such as the end of the early bird pricing period.

Blog posts demonstrated the bloggers’ and their kids’ authentic and lasting excitement about Brain Chase:

“In addition to just the pure coolness factor of the whole thing, I LOVE that this program not only fosters a love of learning and travel, but it really promotes family collaboration!” (Sara, Mom Endeavors)

“The typical summer learning I’ve witnessed as an educator and parent has involved a list of websites for math and a good old reading log. Am I the only one who finds this type of summer work a major battle? True story – it’s always a major battle in our house. Aidan can’t stop talking about Brain Chase, however. ‘When can we start again? Who won last year? Is it okay if we do more than 20 minutes of work per day?’ Seriously? Whose kid is he? Brain Chase could be the answer.” (Annie, Stowed Stuff)

The coverage drove approximately one-third of total sign-ups for the summer 2015 service and resulted in 172 blog posts, more than 10,000 social media posts (including tweets) and nearly 108 million impressions over four months. Several of the Brain Chase campaign bloggers still hold spots on the first page of organic search for “Brain Chase,” just behind the official Brain Chase site and a New York Times article on the program.

Image credit: All images provided and approved for use by Brain Chase.

Q&A with Neylan McBaine of Brain Chase Productions

May 14, 2015 by The Motherhood

This spring, The Motherhood has been working with the team behind the Brain Chase Summer Learning Challenge, along with a large team of mom influencers, to spread the word about this fun and interactive online summer learning option. Recently, we asked Brain Chase Chief Marketing Officer Neylan McBaine to share her thoughts on why Brain Chase is a unique, effective option for families.

Keep reading to learn what she has to say!

In your opinion, what sets Brain Chase apart from other online summer learning options?

Brain Chase brings together two things that are found in quality and quantity apart but are rarely combined effectively: education and entertainment. Singular successful examples last generations in our memories: Schoolhouse Rock, Where In the World Is Carmen San Diego?, even Sesame Street, to name a few from my own childhood. But Brain Chase takes that pairing into both the digital and offline worlds. By offering the best online curriculum resources on the web and motivating kids to use them by crafting a massive global treasure hunt, Brain Chase offers kids a framework in which they can learn from the best while not suffering the drudgery and nagging parental figures that accompany so many other options.

What was your family’s experience participating in Brain Chase last summer (before you were hired by the company)?

My three daughters are not particularly computer literate, so I am always looking for ways to introduce them to resources and sites online that will expose them to the best of what the internet has to offer. For me, one of the best parts of participating in the program last summer was seeing my kids become fluent on Khan Academy and myON in a structured, motivating environment. This year, Brain Chase has added Rosetta Stone and Google Books as curriculum partners, so we’re looking forward to becoming familiar with those this year.

While I might have appreciated seeing them become more familiar with the web’s “healthy” resources, their favorite part for sure was the adventure tools that came through the mail from the Grayson Academy of Antiquities (the fictional employer of our heroine, Mae Merriweather). They received a very cool decoder ring, a compass and seeds that revealed a secret password on their leaves when they grew. This year’s adventure tools are just as cool: a decoder medallion, a sundial and a mystery tool – but I know what it is and it is delightful. It’s magical to see kids receive a package in the mail that looks like it comes from an exotic adventureland and then figure out how to use something like a compass that is foreign to them today but directed our civilizations for thousands of years! (Apparently, the kids weren’t the only ones who love these tools.)

How have parents and kids reacted to the idea of Brain Chase in general?

We joke in the office that Brain Chase is an “and then…” product: “So, it’s a summer program that’s online … and then there are real adventure tools … and then there are animated episodes … and then there are clues to a riddle … and then there’s a real buried treasure … and then there is a $10,000 prize…!” Parents and kids both become more and more intrigued when they learn about the extent of the program and all of the magical online and offline components. Overwhelmingly, when a parent grasps the full concept and the tremendous value we’re offering over five weeks, they can’t believe how fun and productive and flexible and useful the program is. We have some seriously devoted fans! The kids love the idea of the animated show and the real buried treasure, and parents love the fact that they won’t have to nag their kids about doing something productive with their inevitable summer screen time.

What is the most important thing you would like people to know about Brain Chase?

Brain Chase is unlike anything else parents are familiar with today, so it requires a bit of education to understand just how comprehensive our value is. On the education side, we’re researching and curating and partnering with the very best curriculum providers on the web, most of which are expensive as stand-alone subscriptions. With Brain Chase, kids will get seven weeks of access to Rosetta Stone, for instance (the kids can access Rosetta Stone for two additional weeks after our program ends to continue with their work), which is not a cheap resource. We’re also providing streamlined log-ins to each curriculum partner and a dashboard where the student’s work on each site is tracked. We’re providing a motivational framework so the child won’t have to be nagged to do their work, a place where kids can become familiar with the “superfoods” of the web and not just the “junk.”

On the entertainment side, we have an original animated series featuring our own characters, and the episodes are packed with clues to the location of a real-life buried treasure. The adventure tools we send in the mail are essential for completing the weekly education challenges but also for solving the global treasure hunt. All of that makes for an amazing value when you compare it to those components separately or to any other five-week summer camp, and when you consider that our program can be done from anywhere, at any time.

As a parent yourself, what do you most love about the Brain Chase academic offerings?

All of our academic offerings are entirely flexible and can be personalized to the students’ needs. So my three daughters – 11, 9 and 6 – can each get exactly what they need from the program. With Khan Academy, for instance, my 11-year-old can choose to review fifth grade math or go on to sixth grade math, and my 6-year-old can select first grade math. Similarly, my kids can select different books to read and even different languages to study through Rosetta Stone. What this means is that Brain Chase can be used as a tool to help kids review last year’s work or get ahead for the next year. We’ve had a number of touching stories from parents whose kids used Brain Chase last year to catch up after missing some school due to illness or learning disabilities. I love that part of our program.

Our kids want to know if Brain Chase can come to their classrooms! Any plans to tap the larger education market?

Absolutely! Our summer program will always be our foundational offering, but we’re in the process now of looking for partners with whom we can build after-school programs and expand our product offerings. We’d love to use our existing motivational framework to make additional learning fun in the after-school hours, or personalize the animations and treasure hunt to a specific educational group. We currently have a program where we give teachers $15 for each of their students who registers for Brain Chase, so getting a lot of kids in a class to register for the summer program is a great fundraiser for a teacher or a school.

You can visit Brain Chase here to register!

Keep Kids’ Minds Active This Summer with Brain Chase

March 18, 2015 by The Motherhood

Every year, kids nationwide look forward to that final bell indicating that school’s out for the summer.

As parents, we’re usually less pleased when our kids begin their mid-year months of “freedom,” because we’ve seen the research showing that kids lose ground academically over the summer (according to a 2011 RAND study).

Help has arrived: Brain Chase, a five-week, summer learning challenge disguised as a virtual treasure hunt to keep your kids interested and motivated to learn, as they search the globe for a real treasure in the form of a $10,000 college scholarship fund.

The first-ever Brain Chase Summer Learning Challenge occurred last year. See how it turned out for the 2014 winners:

You can sign your kids up now for a summer of educational fun! The treasure hunt begins on June 22. Get early-bird pricing until April 15, and use this code to take an extra 15 percent off: MOTHERHOOD15

Brain Chase requires kids to complete weekly structured math and reading challenges on sites like Khan Academy and myON, along with writing exercises that receive feedback from credentialed teachers, in order to unlock original, animated webisodes with a story line featuring a team of kid treasure hunters. Each webisode contains clues to help kids find the location of a real buried treasure (and $10,000 scholarship fund).

Parents get weekly progress reports on kids’ work throughout the five-week challenge, and in addition to the normal assignments, Brain Chase sends three “bonus challenges” through the regular mail. Last year’s challenges required kids to work with a decoder ring, compass and “magic” seeds to solve additional clues.

Based on a survey of last year’s participants, 93 percent of parents say that Brain Chase helped their children stay sharp over the summer, and 83 percent say it was more effective than other summer learning options they were aware of.

You can see the sneak preview for the 2015 Brain Chase Summer Learning Challenge here:

Let the “adventure learning” begin for your kids this year, and share your progress with us along the way! You can sign your kids up here, and don’t forget to use the discount code MOTHERHOOD15.

Disclosure: The Motherhood is working with Brain Chase, along with a team of fantastic bloggers and their intrepid, treasure-hunting kids, on a blog campaign between March and June. Opinions are our own.