Client Case Study

Yoosk Public Engagement Platform www.yoosk.vn.ukvn

Client: British Embassy Hanoi.

The Embassy in Vietnam is recognised as one of the leading practitioners
in the emerging field of digital diplomacy. Yoosk was commissioned to deliver a groundbreaking
online public diplomacy project connecting the wider Vietnamese public with leading UK public
figures, celebrities and experts. The resulting dialogue between cultures received widespread
media attention and internal recognition.

Embassy needs: 3. Drive traffic to the site by partnering with the

1. Build understanding of Britain and its achieve- established web news provider vietnamnet.vn:
ments among the wider Vietnamese public.

2. Create greater awareness of key foreign

policy themes, including climate change, educa-
tion and open government.

3. Promote the UK as an open, diverse society

where different opinions can be freely expressed.
Solution:
1.Translate the yoosk platform into Vietnamese
and register a Vietnamese domain name.
4. Target readers of other relevant news sites,
web communities and university websites, to
gather questions on specific themes.
Results:
Over a twelve week period, 53,335 people vis-
ited the Yoosk Vietnam website, 142 questions
were asked, 88 of which were answered.

In addition to visitors to the Yoosk and Vietnam-

net sites, content generated by the project was
published in a wide range of Vietnamese online
news sites:

2. Target public figures in the UK who have ex-

pertise in the theme areas chosen by the Em-
bassy:

David Miliband
Foreign Secretary on British Foreign
Policy.
Jo Swinson
Liberal Democrat MP and youngest
member of the House of commons.
Ambrose Evans Pritchard
Financial Editor Daily Telegraph on the
Global Financial Crisis.
Chris Mullins
Labour MP on Open Government.
A Google.vn search for Yoosk returns several
thousand results, a significant number of which
are original articles and blog posts.
VietnamNet featured ten interviews with UK
leaders, attracting hundreds of thousands of
visits.
The BBC also featured the Foreign Secretary’s
interview.

Curtis Davies
Aston Villa Footballer on the English
Premier League.