Canadian International School (CIS)

Background

Background

The Canadian International School (CIS) is one of Singapore's leading international schools, offering the full International Baccalaureate (IB) continuum from Nursery through Grade 12. As Singapore's only Canadian international school, CIS is recognised for its bilingual English-French programme, holistic approach to education, and close-knit, family-oriented community.

Operating within Singapore's highly competitive international education sector, CIS competes alongside long-established institutions for the attention of both local and expatriate families. To support student recruitment and long-term brand growth, the school sought a digital marketing partner capable of strengthening its online visibility while delivering measurable admissions outcomes.

Approach

Our Approach

1. Full-Funnel Performance Marketing

When choosing an international school, parents rarely enquire after seeing a single advertisement. Instead, they spend months comparing curricula, researching school culture, attending open houses, and evaluating whether a school is the right fit for their child.

Recognising this, Brew developed a full-funnel performance marketing strategy across Meta and Google that guided prospective families from initial awareness through to event registrations, school tour bookings, and admissions enquiries.

Campaigns were developed for both CIS's flagship events and year-round admissions activity, with every stage of the funnel supported by tailored messaging, platform-specific creatives, and dedicated landing pages.

Rather than treating paid media as a one-off lead generation exercise, campaigns were continuously refined through audience analysis, creative testing, bid optimisation, and performance monitoring.

For international schools, visibility alone isn't enough. Maintaining a consistent presence throughout a parent's research journey increases familiarity, builds trust, and ensures the school remains top-of-mind when families are ready to make a decision.

Brew developed campaign creatives that highlighted CIS's globally minded education, encouraging prospective families to book a campus tour and experience its international learning environment firsthand.

Additionally, Brew produced student-led brand videos that highlighted campus life, educational experiences, and school culture, helping prospective families connect with the CIS experience in a genuine and relatable way.

2. Audience-First Campaign Strategy

Brew developed audience strategies centred around the parents most likely to consider CIS, combining demographic targeting, education interests, behavioural signals, and remarketing audiences.

Campaigns primarily focused on:

• Parents aged 25–44
• Families researching international education
• Website visitors who had previously engaged with CIS
• Lookalike audiences modelled on existing prospects

Remarketing played a particularly important role by re-engaging families who had already visited the website or interacted with previous campaigns, keeping CIS visible throughout a longer consideration period.

Delivering relevant creative to audiences already familiar with the school improves campaign efficiency while increasing the likelihood of enquiry and enrolment.

Brew developed campaign creatives that reinforced CIS's brand positioning around holistic education. Designed to drive registrations for the CIS Breakfast Club, the ads below showcased the opportunity for parents to meet educators, ask questions, and discover a school that values more than academic results.

Creative performance was reviewed continuously, with underperforming assets replaced based on real campaign data rather than fixed timelines. Across multiple campaigns, short-form vertical videos consistently generated stronger engagement and enquiries than static creatives, leading to greater emphasis on video-first storytelling.

3. Driving Attendance for High-Value Admissions Events

Open houses remain one of the most influential touchpoints in an international school's admissions process, allowing prospective families to experience the campus, meet teachers, and understand the school's culture firsthand.

Brew led the digital marketing strategy for CIS's flagship events, including Magical Garden and the school's 35th Anniversary MapleFest.

Campaign responsibilities included:

• Campaign strategy
• Media planning
• Audience segmentation
• Creative development
• Ad copywriting
• Performance optimisation
• Reporting

For MapleFest, Brew developed three creative pillars:

• Heritage & Belonging
• STEAM in Action
• Community & Campus Life

Rather than focusing purely on academic achievements, the campaign showcased the broader student experience and reinforced CIS's positioning as a nurturing, family-oriented international school

Brew developed event campaign creatives showcasing the Magical Garden Party as an immersive introduction to CIS, inviting families to explore the campus, experience its purpose-built learning spaces, and connect with teachers and school leaders.

Brew produced engaging Meta video ads designed to maximise event awareness, showcase the CIS experience, and drive registrations among prospective families.

Parents ultimately choose schools based on more than academic results. Demonstrating school culture, student wellbeing, and community helps prospective families imagine their children thriving within the environment as students.

4. SEO and Website Support for Long-Term Visibility

Alongside campaign execution, Brew conducted a comprehensive technical SEO audit to identify barriers limiting CIS's organic visibility.

Brew’s SEO team conducted a full website audit for CIS, identifying key technical issues affecting SEO performance, providing the insights needed to prioritise improvements and strengthen organic search visibility.

Based on these findings and working closely with the school's internal marketing team and third-party web developer, Brew prioritised improvements to CIS’s website, including:

• Resolving redirect chains
• Fixing broken pages
• Improving mobile performance
• XML sitemap optimisation
• Ongoing keyword tracking
• Monthly SEO recommendations

The objective extended beyond improving rankings. By strengthening the website's technical foundation, CIS would become more discoverable to parents researching international schools while providing a faster, smoother browsing experience once they arrive.

SEO creates sustainable visibility long after advertising campaigns end. Strong technical foundations improve both search rankings and user experience, helping convert organic traffic into genuine admissions enquiries.

5. Measuring the Entire Admissions Journey

To ensure every campaign could be accurately measured, Brew implemented comprehensive conversion tracking using Google Tag Manager, integrating data across HubSpot, Meta, and Google Ads.

Key actions, including:

• School tour bookings
• Event registrations
• Admissions enquiries
• Form submissions

were tracked throughout the customer journey.

Rather than relying on clicks or impressions alone, CIS could clearly identify which campaigns, audiences, and creative assets were generating meaningful admissions activity.

Why this mattered

Accurate measurement enables better marketing decisions. With complete visibility into the admissions funnel, CIS could continuously optimise campaign investment towards the channels and creative delivering the strongest business outcomes.