Speak Easy Labs Korea (CEO Connor Nikolai Zwick), which operates the AI English learning solution ' Speak', announced that it won the 'Best AI Pioneer' category at the '2025 YouTube Works Awards Korea'.
The YouTube Works Awards, a digital video advertising awards ceremony jointly hosted by global marketing research firm Kantar and YouTube, are held in over 15 countries around the world. Since its inception in Korea in 2019, the awards recognize marketing campaigns that demonstrate creativity and tangible business results.
Speak won this category for its "Be Wrong, Be Wrong. Speak" campaign. The campaign, which encourages people to overcome perfectionism and the fear of making mistakes in English speaking, garnered attention for using AI technology to restore the voice of the late Shin Hae-chul, conveying the brand's philosophy of "growth through mistakes."
Speak collaborated with Next United, Inc., which holds the copyright to the deceased's voice, to create an AI voice by training approximately 6,700 recombinant data points based on approximately nine hours of actual voice recordings. During the production process, ethical guidelines were applied to protect personal rights and prevent defamation, and the final tone was confirmed after review by AI engineers and voice experts.
The second campaign video, released later, featured four people, including actor and YouTuber Moon Sang-hoon and fashion designer Milanonna, using Speak in various settings to learn and grow in English. It realistically portrayed the process of overcoming the fear of making mistakes in English, resonating with users.
This campaign achieved success in both brand awareness and user engagement. The brand's Top of Mind (TOM) rose 182% year-over-year, ranking it first in the industry, and brand searches increased by over 80%. Speak also achieved the top spot on the Google Play Education Apps popularity chart, with related organic content accumulating over 5.54 million views.
Jeong Du-hyeon, Brand Manager of Speakeasy Labs Korea, said, “This award is a positive evaluation of our ethical and responsible use of AI technology, along with the message that ‘it’s okay to be wrong.’ We will continue to support learners so that they can accept mistakes as opportunities for growth and speak English with confidence.”
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