Office for Students
- Campaign
- Visual identity
Pearson
Promoting the learning company’s commitment to evidence and research
About Pearson
Pearson believes evidence is the engine behind great learning experiences. Rigorous research lies behind the design and marketing of the multinational company’s digital education products.
For years, Definition has partnered with Pearson to help communicate and celebrate the importance of evidence in education.
Making the case
Pearson’s website is where the company makes the case that evidence matters – not just to academics and researchers, but also to teachers, lecturers and learners.
We distilled the company’s position into clear, audience-centred web copy that explains why people should care about evidence in education – and why that means they should choose Pearson for their learning journey.
Championing evidence also means being transparent. Pearson curates a vast library of research into how people learn; as well as using the findings to inform new products, the company makes much of it available to the wider education sector.
We audited, catalogued and categorised these resources and designed the structure of an online resource library to house them. The simple, navigable structure makes it clear that Pearson is not just paying lip service to transparency – the company genuinely wants people to discover, use, and get value out of the evidence it shares.
“I’m going to use an American saying: you hit it out of the park.”
Ashley Peterson-DeLuca, Director of Employability, Efficacy & Research Communications, Pearson
The confidence to share
Pearson was the first major education company to publicly report on its own products’ effectiveness for learners – to the same rigorous standards expected of academic research.
Since 2018, when the company first made this commitment, we’ve been instrumental in preparing its efficacy reports for publication.
We quality-check and proofread the researchers’ detailed technical reports to make sure they’re as clear as possible for academics who want to investigate, verify or even reproduce the results.
And we work alongside Pearson researchers and communicators to produce summary reports, highlighting key findings in plain language for learners and instructors.
Marketing with evidence
When Pearson researchers find evidence that one of the company’s products helps learning, it’s natural to use that evidence to give the product a marketing boost.
Our familiarity with the findings, from working closely on the efficacy reports, combined with our creative skills, puts Definition in the right position to advise on marketing Pearson products with evidence.
After research revealed compelling findings about Watson-Glaser (Pearson’s critical thinking skills assessment) and Microsoft Office Specialist (a certification programme by Pearson sub-brand Certiport), we built evidence-centred marketing campaigns around both products.
Each campaign featured a hero animation highlighting the research findings, along with web ads, social media promotion images, sales presentations, factsheets and more.
In the process of delivering the Microsoft Office Specialist campaign, we also developed a visual campaign style that helped bring Certiport closer to the parent Pearson brand – making for a more coherent brand now and in the future.
“The feedback I’ve had from stakeholders of all levels involved in the reports is so positive and rightly deserved.”
Vikki Weston, Director of Programme Management – Efficacy Strategy & Delivery, Pearson
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