Akron Public Schools

Billboard and postcard graphics

Akron Public Schools (APS) is an urban public school district serving more than 19,000 students in Akron, Ohio. The district has nine high schools, nine middle schools, 29 elementary schools and six specialty schools covering more than 60 square miles.

 The need: Increase participation in the district’s open enrollment program.

APS holds an annual open enrollment period in the fall where current and out-of-district students can apply to enroll in a school or specialty school/program outside of their neighborhood assigned school. The district wanted to increase overall applications from current students by 10% and out-of-district applications by 10%. It also wanted to completely fill specialty schools/programs and have waitlists.

The solution: Our team developed and implemented a multichannel campaign we called “Be all that you want to be!” to show students and families that there were many opportunities for students to attend schools or pursue programs that aligned with their goals and interests. Sub themes of “Be curious!,” “Be career ready!,” “Be creative!” and others helped capture APS’s unique offerings.

To properly reach the intended audiences, we created:

• Digital assets: Landing pages, social media graphics/content
• Print assets: flyers, postcards
• Videos used in social media and on YouTube
• Traditional media: Billboards and direct mail
• Paid and organic social media campaigns
• Google search and paid YouTube campaigns

The result: The campaign led to a 33% increase in overall applications, a 17% increase to out-of-district applications and filling spots (with waitlists) in four of six specialty schools/programs, exceeding campaign application goals by 23% and 7% respectively.

The campaign took place between October 2023 and January 2024 and is just one example of many marketing campaigns we’ve run that helped our clients meet and exceed their goals and expectations.