Samenvatting

The Second World War, legislative changes, and on-going globalisation are some of the causes that diminished the reach of the German language in the Netherlands. Duitsland Instituut Amsterdam studied the current state of the use of the German language and found that research participants had ‘no-connection’ with Germany or the German language and tended to define the latter as “businesslike”.
As a result, Actiegroep Duits was established and started the campaign Mach Mit! to promote
the language. The main purpose of this research is to examine the perceptions of the promotional activities of Actiegroep Duits. Therefore, the following question was formulated: “How can Actiegroep Duits improve their campaign Mach Mit, in order to raise awareness of the importance of the German language among the youth in the Netherlands?”
A descriptive research method was used to obtain information regarding the current status, with respect to the relevant variables and conditions of the given situation. The problem analysis outlines the importance, development and state of the German language, including the problem with which Actiegroep Duits is coping. Moreover, theories on promotion are discussed in order to evaluate the promotional activities of Actiegroep Duits and an equivalent campaign, TechniekTalent.nu. Furthermore, a qualitative research method was applied to outline perceptions of the current campaign.
The research concluded that, Actiegroep Duits has been using differentiated target groups without dividing these target groups into further segments. In addition, the organisation has been transmitting a message to its audience without taking the needs and lifestyle of that specific audience into consideration. The same is being done with regard to the communication channels used. Furthermore, the teachers are only being used as message source. Thus, in order to improve the promotional campaign of Actiegroep Duits this study concludes that Actiegroep Duits should focus on further segmenting its current target groups and compiling business models for these groups. In addition, design-specific messages that correspond with the needs and lifestyles of each specific target group would give the students the opportunity to identify with the message. The same principle is recommended for the communication channels. Finally, apart from using teachers as a message source, Actiegroep Duits could also focus on using professionals and peers, all while taking finance and time into consideration.
This research paper also includes its limitations concerning the scope of the subject. It only focuses on the German language and does not cover the state of foreign languages in general. Furthermore, this research was based on how promotional activities are perceived rather than on their effectiveness.