• by Fern Siegel , March 1, 2022

Tutoring company Paper just launched a $10 million national consumer ad campaign — its first.

Paper’s model is distinct. It partners with school districts to deliver one-to-one, 24/7 tutoring, selling services at scale. Tutoring is available online to every student in that district. The company is in 100 districts in 30 states. It serves 2 million students via 2,200 tutors and 400 core staffers.

Heist created and produced ads for the cross-platform campaign.

Broadcast TV spots are airing in two markets, Columbus, Ohio, and Tampa, Florida, with a broader radio, OOH and digital buy across 10 U.S. metro markets, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta.

Digital buys includes online video (primarily TrueView units on YouTube), CTV (paid units on SmartTVs and other connected devices), Full Episode Players (mostly Hulu) and Social (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter).

“Paper finds itself at an exciting juncture — we see the opportunity to provide personalized support to every public-school student in the country. The scale of this opportunity has led us, for the first time, to move beyond talking to just administrators and start talking to the public at large,” Priya Aggarwal, CMO, told Agency Daily.

“This meant crafting an emotive visual campaign that captures the psychological weight that many students bear, while introducing hope in the form of robust, on-demand academic support,” she added.

Founded in 2015, Paper recently hit a $1 billion validation. On Feb. 15, it closed a $270 million investment Series D funding round by Sapphire Ventures and SoftBank Investment Advisers, with support from returning investors, including IVP, Salesforce Ventures and Framework Venture Partners.

“Remote learning during lockdowns accelerated digital adoption of education tools, but also exposed a glaring divide in the experience for many students,” said Ram Trichur, partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. “Paper is helping to support stretched public school systems to improve student outcomes by widening access to critical tutoring resources.”

Paper supports some of the largest school districts in the U.S., such as Clark County School District (Nevada), Hillsborough County Public Schools (Florida), Boston Public Schools (Massachusetts), Atlanta Public Schools (Georgia), Columbus City Schools (Ohio), and Santa Ana Unified School District (California).