India is immensely important for the study-abroad ecosystem: Michelle Froah

ETS or the Educational Testing Service is the largest non-profit private educational assessment and testing organisation in the world. It is serving learners worldwide with a 75+ year legacy, developing, administering and scoring annually huge number of tests, which include the TOEFL and TOEIC tests, the Praxis Series assessments and the GRE tests, in over 200 countries, at more than 9,000 locations worldwide, and has recently completed two years in India. It follows a significant strategy, which is ‘glocalization’, and adding a touch of personalisation to its campaigns. It focuses on raising awareness about its offerings such as the GRE and TOEFL among the students, with its campaigns highlighting not only what the experience of giving those assessments is like, but also what they lead onto on the educational journeys of the students.

ETS utilises an omnichannel marketing strategy for the same. It leverages AI and has introduced various tech innovations to make the learning journeys of the students seamless, such as the Converse Workplace, and the TOEFL Go! app, helping to raise the confidence of students in  English language for workplace communication and offers students targeted coaching and feedback. It has also launched ‘The Power is in Your Hands’ campaign in English, Punjabi, and Hindi languages, targeted towards the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, and is designed to turn the dreams of the students into reality, giving a glimpse of the transformational journey offered by ETS. 

Michelle Froah is the Global Chief Marketing Officer of ETS, who joined the organisation in 2023, with responsibilities that include forming the ETS brand, innovation, and marketing globally across community engagement, enterprise functions, business marketing, and product innovation.

In conversation with Adgully, Michelle Froah, Global Chief Marketing Officer, ETS, shared, “As a second generation first-born child on both sides of my Greek family, I know firsthand the power of education and its ability to open doors to greater opportunity. At ETS, I’m tasked with more than just leading the traditional marketing function. My role is inclusive of customer insights, brand, communications, e-commerce, philanthropy, and product innovation.” Excerpts:

What are some of the ways that ETS approaches marketing in India?

ETS is a global company serving learners all over the world, but one important strategy for us is to “glocalize” and personalise our campaigns within individual countries and regions as much as possible – and India is no exception. Our customers and partners are engaging with us in a variety of different ways, wanting to hear about different thingsof interest to them, and most importantly, wanting to see themselves as part of the study abroad journey in which ETS’ offerings play an important role.

From a B2C perspective, one focus for us is building students’ awareness of offerings like TOEFL and GRE, especially as the most accepted tests worldwide for English-language proficiency and graduate/ professional school (including business and law), respectively. To do so, our campaigns highlight not only what the experience is like to take these tests, which are available in test centers and from home, but also to show learners where these assessments can take them – in their education journeys, to the workplace, and beyond. An omnichannel strategy, utilising both online and offline channels, supports the dissemination of these important messages, including but not limited to out-of-home advertising; social channels; local celebrity influencer engagement, and more.

How is ETS leveraging AI in its offerings?

At ETS, we are focused on innovation because it will help us better serve our learners, and therefore drive our mission forward. AI is fueling this innovation. We have a variety of current examples that demonstrate how AI is creating more personalised, responsive, and insightful offerings that learners can use to validate their strengths and create actionable plans to make progress where they need to improve. A few highlights:

The TOEFL Go! app, which launched alongside some exciting TOEFL iBT enhancements in July, provides learners with targeted feedback and coaching as they prepare for the test. Features such as AI-powered scoring for all sections; coaching and tips to improve on the Speaking and Writing sections; and high-level sample responses make this a robust prep experience for test-takers as they gear up for test day.

Operationally, AI is being used to support scoring models for the TOEFL iBT Speaking and Writing sections. In addition, it aids our proctors from a security standpoint to maintain the integrity of our at-home tests.

Converse Workplace, which is designed to build one’s confidence in their English-language skills for workplace communication, leverages personalised recommender engines that offer content and recommendations that adapt to users’ learning goals and interests. This feedback also goes beyond traditional skills, offering feedback into durable skills like confidence.

From a marketing perspective, we are promoting these exciting innovations while ensuring that learners know these are not only being developed for them based on what they need to achieve their potential, but also with them. We collect insights from learners that drive their creation and iterate on those offerings based on the feedback we hear about how beneficial they are. We’re also hyper-focused on implementing AI ethically and responsibly, with an entire research team dedicated to this initiative.

What is the global campaign, #The Power is in Your Hands, about?

The Power is in Your Hands campaign is a good example of the glocalization effort I previously described. It’s a global campaign, specific to the TOEFL iBT test that we’ve worked to localise with our in-country marketing teams to ensure that it’s best serving our customers. In India, learners across the country saw this campaign deployed in English, Hindi, and Punjabi. The campaign is built off our market research, which has gleaned insights from our customers on what they’re most interested in hearing about and learning from us. Based on this, we know how important it is to be focused on outcomes – in other words, for learners to understand where TOEFL iBT can take them.

Of note, TOEFL iBT is accepted by more than 12,000 institutions in more than 160 countries; and just recently became accepted for Canada’s Student Direct Stream. This campaign demonstrates TOEFL iBT as a partner in their journey, not only on the road to higher education, but also to their careers and beyond. It empowers learners to control their destiny by choosing the English-language test that can get them to where they want to go.

Could you tell us about your journey so far?

My journey to the role of ETS’ Global Chief Marketing Officer has been a unique one, and one that I’m proud of. In particular:

I see myself and my family in the students we serve. As a second generation firstborn child on both sides of my Greek family, I know firsthand the power of education and its ability to open doors to greater opportunity. In addition, I like to think of myself as a global citizen, having lived in so many places – from Germany to Singapore and across the US. Students partaking in study abroad journeys, using ETS’ assessments along the way, are also global citizens. They are embracing a variety of experiences undertaken in new environments, engaging with unique cultures, and using their acquired knowledge and experiences to help give back to their communities, solve challenges, and make the world a better place.

My education and professional experience are both global and diverse, which lends well to the non-traditional CMO+ title I’ve held for the last seven months. I studied mechanical engineering as an undergraduate student and later earned an MBA. I’ve also led marketing, sales, and operations for companies around the world, building brands and innovation from end to endacross industries. Now, at ETS, I’m tasked with more than just leading the traditional marketing function. My role is inclusive of customer insights, brand, communications, e-commerce, philanthropy, and product innovation. It’s given me the ability to make a real impact and be our chief change agent for the transformation of the ETS brand, amid the fast-paced, ongoing changes being experienced by the education industry.

I’m prepared and excited to be part of ETS’ transformation. As the world looks beyond traditional standardised testing – which ETS has a rich and well-known 75+ year history – we have to evolve along with it. I’m focused on helping ETS leverage today’s technologies to deliver real-time insights that help learners realize their full potential.

How important is India to ETS?

India is immensely important not only to ETS, but the study-abroad ecosystem. The sheer volume and caliber of international students from India are admirable.

This month marks our second anniversary of the formation of ETS India (based in Delhi), which is a subsidiary of ETS. We’ve made such strong inroads during that time – everything from the establishment of key partnerships; to supporting government initiatives; to launching product innovations. From a marketing perspective, we have a dedicated team, which carries out our personalised, regionalised marketing previously discussed. Our investment in India will only continue, which will be key to having a greater impact in supporting learners across the country, and ultimately, to carry out our mission.