United Schools Network

Situation

United Schools Network is a non-profit charter school organization committed to preparing students to achieve academic excellence and become citizens of integrity. As an organization, USN is focused on closing the achievement gap for low income and high need students, opening their minds to learning and giving them the life skills to gain entrance, gain success and gain a degree from the most demanding high schools and colleges.

Since 2013, Summerfield has collaborated with USN as their branding and marketing partner. After a strategic rebranding initiative, Summerfield has continued to assist USN, developing communication, marketing and advertising initiatives.

USN has multiple target audiences, including donors and volunteer, parents and students, faculty, staff and administration, community members and government contacts. When developing the strategy for 2014, Summerfield needed to consider this wide variety of audiences.

Challenge

Our challenge included developing the USN brand and spreading the word about United Schools Network and the impressive work that they are doing, as well as highlighting the positive values and culture of the schools. These goals included developing a strategy for fundraising, student and teacher recruitment, continuing to build and strengthen the brand for growth and promoting school spirit.

Solution

Our strategy included developing a strong brand that would grow with the organization as they added schools and the creation of core brand communication pieces such as the website, culture videos, school imagery, signage and graphics and the annual report. These pieces stay true to the core brand and communicate the benefits and highlights of USN. We also developed multiple strategic marketing and advertising touch points including fundraising videos with a strong call to action, event marketing for the kickoff of their major fundraiser, environmental graphics inside the schools to promote school spirit, a website landing page to communicate targeted messaging and targeted advertising to recruit teachers, students and donors.

The touch points that were developed continue to set the stage for the growth of the organization. By presenting a cohesive, professional image, USN is able to promote themselves and spread the word about their mission and achievements.

Services

Brand Identity & Strategy
Brand Architecture
Signage & Wayfinding
Marketing & Communication Strategy
Web Design
Environmental Graphics
Collateral Concept & Design

Result

As United Schools Network continues to grow (with a new school added in 2014 and another planned for 2015), they are gaining more and more brand equity and recognition. Using the marketing and advertising tools, USN is able to confidently communicate their vision to their targets.

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