Institution: New Jersey State Museum
Initiative: Trenton Makes-Words!
Year: 2015-2018
Background
With a $1 million grant from the PNC Foundation, the New Jersey State Museum embarked on an ambitious multi-year partnership with The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey and Trenton Community Music School to serve pre-kindergarten children and their families through a city-wide early learning initiative with an emphasis on family engagement.
Challenge
To build awareness of a new education brand while promoting 60+ multi-location programs (with limited capacity) and 30+ pop-ups per month, reading nooks, and four family festivals, amplifying the identity of each participating institution and reaching a bilingual audience in a city with a 41% limited access of households to the Internet.
Solutions
➛ Worked collaboratively with a team of staff members across three partner organizations to learn about the initiative’s details.
➛ Wrote and implemented a marketing plan to guide the multi-institutional team through marketing strategies in the context of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats—focusing on research insights about demographics and competitors.
➛ Managed TMW brand execution, ensuring messaging and creative direction consistency, building a visual identity system and a style guide.
➛ Generated brand-aligned, creative sub-identities to define various programs, reading nooks, and festivals.
➛ Maximized five-figure budget for branding, production, advertising, website maintenance, and translations.
➛ Implemented engaging, multichannel marketing campaigns through social media, email marketing, grassroots outreach, OOH signage, and media to build acquisition and conversion for programs and festivals.
➛ Wrote, edited, and designed engaging digital content for new website, email, and social media channels following a strategic content communications calendar.
➛ Hired design and translator freelancers and worked closely with external production vendors to support the workload of a significant amount of bilingual print collaterals and digital content.
➛ Strategized creative communication formats to help parents and caregivers understand the value of each program (location convenience, free participation, music-focused programs by Trenton Community Music School vs. art- and science-infused programs by the New Jersey State Museum).
➛ Created on-site signage for each program host location to expand brand awareness.
➛ Worked closely with local media outlets by writing and sharing press releases, media alerts, and press kits.
Results
- The initiative served 771 families and 892 children in Trenton (each family participated in about 12-session cohorts). The Wonderful Words Fairs hosted 542 families and 751 kids.
- Social media followers increased by 53% in 2017 and 69% in 2018 compared to previous years. By the second year, 75% of families reported using at least one of the program’s social media accounts.
- Website sessions increased 176% in year 2 compared to year 1. Total pageviews reached 13K, of which 34% were returning visitors.
- Seasonal campaigns proved very successful in engaging parents to participate. Our 2017 holiday giveaway campaign asked parents to share stories about the impact of program resources. We received 42 warm-hearted stories, content repurposed to share in funding reports and social media channels.
- Media mentions:
- Trenton Makes Words Initiative Promotes Early Education. PBS, Caucus NJ with Steve Adubato
- PNC launches $1M program to help Trenton preschoolers build vocabulary. NJ.com
- Trenton Makes—Words! Prepares Kids for Kindergarten. Trenton Daily
- Trenton Makes-Words! to host Wonderful WORDS Fair this Saturday. The Trentonian.
Deliverables
Marketing plan (industry and market research, competitive review, target segments, marketing strategy), brand architecture, brand kit, marketing campaigns, digital and print ads, strategic messaging and copy, media communications (media kit, press releases, media alerts), digital content (website, email campaigns, organic/paid social media), online and printed surveys and polls, photography, collateral materials (posters, postcards, brochures, banners, magnets, flyers, bookmarks, totes), budget management and final reports, and management of freelancers.
Sample of Deliverables
