Education Alliance: “School-Business Partnership of the Year”

Challenge:

The Education Alliance’s School-Business Partnership program creates and supports mutually beneficial initiatives between West Virginia Schools and Businesses that prepare students for the workforce, address each community’s workforce needs, and drive civic engagement.

These partnerships are essential for fostering success in student support, resource sharing, community engagement, and innovation.

To further expand the program, The Education Alliance, in collaboration with Hope Gas, wanted to introduce the “Hope for the Future: School-Business Partnership of the Year” Award to recognize exemplary partnerships across the state. Selected partnerships would be awarded the following:

• 8 Regional Winners: $2,000 prize each
• 1 State Winner: $25,000 prize package
• Application Process: Simple, with registration and a brief application form
• Deadline: March 7, 2025

Solution:

With minimal brand awareness, limited funding, and a short entry window, the Education Alliance faced an urgent need for a robust, impactful campaign to promote the contest and encourage applications.

Working in tandem with Brown Communications, the strategy focused on quickly developing cohesive messaging, building essential campaign assets, and driving engagement through a comprehensive communications plan. Key deliverables included:

• Campaign Messaging: Clear and compelling press talking points, ad copy and social media posts for multiple platforms
• Press Events: Coordination of three media events, a kick-off in February including an announcement at a West Virginia Department of Education meeting and another at a local school with an existing partnership. Additionally, the statewide winner would be announced at the annual Education Summit to be held in May.
• Digital Marketing: A programmatic digital marketing campaign targeted at businesses, schools, and philanthropic organizations and individuals supporting education

Campaign Deliverables:

• Logo & Branding
• Website Graphics
• Social Media Content:
  • Graphics
  • Video production & editing
  • Engaging copywriting
• Cross-Platform Social Media Strategy
• Programmatic Digital Marketing Campaign targeting key audience segments
• Public Relations

Results:

The campaign yielded impressive results, including:

• Doubling the size of the School-Business Partnership Registry in its first week
• 73 Applications received from 32 counties – every region of the state
• 1.6 million impressions delivered via programmatic digital ads, with over 1,075 clicks to the registration page during the contest period
• Over 750,000 impressions generated, valued at over $24,000 in earned media efforts
• 8.6% increase in social media audience growth cross-platform
• 1,372.6% increase in social media engagements

Conclusion:

The campaign’s success was the result of rapid action, strategic execution, and cost-effective use of resources. By quickly building brand recognition and executing a focused, multi-channel marketing effort, we significantly expanded the program’s audience and engagement. Moving forward, this foundation will be invaluable in promoting the 2026 “Partnership of the Year” contest, allowing for further growth and continued impact in supporting educational initiatives statewide.

To learn more please visit: educationalliance.org.