We turned the captcha into a language learning tool that could teach South Africans a new language, one word at a time.

We built a fully-functional captcha that works as a security tool for web forms, but also simply and easily teaches the user a word in a new South African language.

The user is shown a word visually and is also given the option to hear an audio recording of the word (thus facilitating different learning styles). Once submitted, the user is given the translation of the word as well as the language the word is from.

We successfully introduced iCaptcha into the web development market by first getting a number of popular websites to launch it on their platform. We then made it widely available via a dedicated website and a plugin on Drupal. We offered iCaptcha open source and free of charge so developers would be incentivised to implement it, getting even more exposure for the campaign.

Positive PR coverage encouraged the adoption of iCaptcha by websites that wanted to enhance their user experience with a free and fun captcha that has relevance and a purpose.

In the first 10 days of release, iCaptcha increased online awareness for Bilingo by 262%. The Western Cape Department of Education now uses iCaptcha exclusively, and iCaptcha remains available for inclusion on any and all websites.

No one has ever used a captcha to promote a brand before.

A “captcha” is a commonly-used security tool designed to ensure that users are human beings and not robots. To most people, these captchas feel like a total waste of time.

By designing and creating an entirely new kind of captcha – one that can serve as an innovative new language-learning tool - we were able to provide users with a valuable utility while generating awareness for our client’s brand.

Bilingo has a unique approach to teaching languages. Instead of offering comprehensive programmes to learn a language in depth, they offer useful words and phrases that have daily relevance to all South Africans. Their aim is not to make South Africans fully conversant in a few languages, but capable of communicating simply in all languages.

Captchas were the perfect tool for Bilingo, since captchas also only use one word or phrase at a time. Most people need to fill out captchas with surprising regularity, which means Bilingo was able to reach a wide variety of South Africans with this simple tool.

With iCaptcha, we aimed to give South Africans an appreciation for the diversity of languages present in their country, and instil in them a desire to learn more in order to better connect with their fellow South Africans.

Millions of captchas are filled out everyday online. They are used by web forms to ensure that users are human beings and not robots. To most people, captchas feel like a total waste of time.

South Africa has an many different languages, though most South Africans can only speak one or two. Bilingo, a language learning site that aims to familiarise South Africans with the country’s 11 official languages, realised they could put captchas to better use.