Client:

Legacy Traditional Schools is a network of tuition-free, A-rated public charter schools educating more than 20,000 K-8 students across 19 campuses in Nevada and Arizona.

Challenge:

Legacy Traditional Schools approached MassMedia in 2016 as public charter schools were beginning to grow in popularity in Nevada. Legacy Traditional Schools already had a strong presence in Arizona with more than a dozen K-8 campuses and a sound reputation backed by quality academics. However, as Legacy Traditional Schools prepared to establish a footprint in Nevada, the executive team wanted to ensure that its formal entry into this new market would position the brand in the most positive way. Primary goals were to adequately educate parents on the school’s key offerings, generate increased enrollment interest/inquiries, and set the network up for future Nevada growth.

Strategy & Approach:

MassMedia began by developing a comprehensive event planning strategy, public relations plan, and traditional media plan to support the groundbreaking of the very first Legacy Traditional Schools campus in Nevada – Legacy North Valley. Our respective marketing plans would serve to support the initial groundbreaking ceremony and establish branding momentum that would funnel increased consideration for the school and new student enrollment. Prior to plan development, the MassMedia team assessed the competitive landscape to develop a differentiation strategy that allowed us to educate our prospective parent audience on the most pertinent distinctions between Legacy’s charter schools and local traditional public schools.

We executed a strategic go-to-market strategy that highlighted Legacy Traditional School’s back to basics curriculum, passionate and experienced staff, and state-of-the-art facilities. Following the execution of an extremely successful North Valley groundbreaking ceremony, Legacy Traditional Schools retained MassMedia for ongoing public relations support. The MassMedia team went on to develop a complete public relations strategy that clearly identified the school’s best opportunities for peak media exposure throughout the school year as well as continued brand presence into the summer months.

Results:

• Built a strong Nevada brand foundation with more than 100 secured media placements over a three-year period
• Exceeded all grade-level enrollment goals in 2016, achieving full campus capacity with student waitlists of more than 25%
• PR efforts led to boosted brand equity in the Nevada market leading to a triple expansion project for the Nevada network
• Secured news coverage reflected 100% positive tone and was 100% inclusive of key media messages

Next case study: Southwest Gas