The Back to School campaign that changed the teacher acquisition playbook
The goal was teacher registrations. The real challenge was understanding what teachers actually needed — and building around that.
Situation
Prodigy Education needed to increase teacher adoption and monthly active users on its K-8 math platform. While students enjoyed the platform, the business needed teachers to integrate it into regular classroom routines. Back to School was the biggest acquisition moment of the year.
What I did
Ran deep teacher interviews. The pattern: their #1 challenge wasn't lesson planning — it was student engagement. Teachers were spending personal time and money creating reward systems.
Built a BTS campaign leaning directly into that insight — positioning Prodigy as the built-in engagement tool that removes that burden.
Designed and shipped the Student Rewards feature with product and research teams — digital badges and custom character unlocks.
Built an email onboarding journey that recovered 60% of lapsed users.
Outcome
- 80% more teacher registrations.
- 20% reduction in CAC without touching the budget.
- 3M+ people engaged across channels; 83% activation rate.
- Student Rewards drove a 21% lift in MAU in the first quarter.