Be A Part Of It

A few months ago, we began a series of meetings with the administrators of Hazel Park Schools to discuss a major initiative they were planning. They needed to reverse a steady decline in the number of students in the district, and, as a result, had recently opened enrollment in grades K–12 to qualified students residing in other cities.

Hazel Park is relatively small – 2.8 sq. miles – with a current population just over 16,000. Bordered by Detroit, Ferndale, Madison Heights and Warren, the city’s below-average median household income and percentage of family households have contributed to a drop in overall population, as well as school enrollment.

The enthusiasm and positive energy from the administrators, teachers and other staff members we met amazed us. They offered and articulated honest, objective views and information on enrollment status, test scores, percentage of students pursuing further educational opportunities, quality of teaching staffs, facilities, technologies, extra-curricular activities and several other criteria. This was key in establishing a communications strategy that would work as intended.

What started on our part as mild skepticism quickly evolved into firm belief. If you’ve ever read The Little Engine That Could, or rooted for a tenacious underdog, then there’s no way you’d be able to turn this team down, or not want to BE A PART OF IT.  (See how I worked the program slogan into the blog without you knowing it?)

It quickly became apparent that their story and products were strong, yet major hurdles existed in terms of negative image – both perceived and, in some cases, real. To counter these, we immediately set out to define the key messages that needed to be clearly and consistently communicated in all types of media. This overall team effort went far better than expected, as each of the participants and internal sub-groups from both of our staffs added their own unique skills to the process.

At this point, it also became time to apply a little “Branding 101” to the project; a task our creative team had been eagerly anticipating, and was extremely comfortable with. Overall creative directions were developed and shown to the clients, and one in particular was chosen. We applied the “look and feel” to each of the previously established key messages, and then to actual proposed applications in various media: print, web, billboard, display, television and radio ads, etc.

After this approval stage, we produced web (www.enrollHPS.com) and print materials, and worked in conjunction with printers, display production companies, television and radio stations, billboard companies, and others, to make sure each individual media effort clearly reflected the overall program’s key messages and new brand image.

As of this writing, the recruitment initiative is in its early stages, but overall feedback and actual pre-enrollment numbers have thus far exceeded expectations.

Projects like this don’t happen all the time, and we’re truly proud to BE A PART of the Hazel Park team. Go Vikings!