I came across this on Adweek recently, and I must say it’s amazing. FCB Brazil recently partnered with CNA language schools to create a program that fosters authentic experiences in the classroom, connecting Brazilian students learning English with a retirement community in Chicago. The students and residents log on and simply engage with one another. The resulting conversations and connections are incredible, but that is not all there is to it. The videos are recorded and sent as private YouTube links to the students’ teachers, so they can evaluate their speaking skills. Everyone wins out. The students get the conversational experience that they could never get from a text book or even in class, and the residents at the retirement community get to share some time with kids from a destination they’ve likely never visited – both get emotional connections that they probably hadn’t even anticipated.

At first I didn’t realize this was even a branded effort, but the resulting promo video you can see below is a huge success for the CNA brand.