DSBN Academy: Changing Perceptions Through Media Relations
DSBN Academy, the first school of its kind in Canada, was designed for students who will be the first in their families to go to university. However, misperceptions about the school and its aims threatened to derail the program before a single student ever walked through its doors.
When Trustees approved the DSBN Academy at a 2011 Board meeting, the local news called it “The Poor School” and a months-long firestorm of media ensued: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/proposed-school-for-low-income-students-ignites-controversy/article568353/
The only way the idea would survive is through a concentrated communications and marketing effort to counter the negative narrative in the public and recruit students willing to be part of this progressive, yet untested, new program. This took place through a combination of reactive and proactive media relations, internal marketing, and building relationships with prospective students and their families.
Media Relations
The first stage of weathering the crisis was to be responsive and forcefully convey the rationale and goals of the school to the community. We selected a spokesperson, the Chair of the Board, who was a retired principal. As someone with expertise in education, she was able to speak eloquently about the challenges young people faced in progressing to postsecondary education and how this school would provide the right mix of supports to help them achieve their goals.
The other strategy we employed was to change the narrative from its current focus on poverty to a focus on opportunity.
We built relationships with students and their parents whose schools identified as potential candidates for the new school. By doing so we met a young man, Shawn Connell, willing to appear on the CBC show “Connect with Mark Kelly” and talk to Mark about his belief in the school as a way for him to progress to university and break the cycle of poverty in his family.
The story aired showing both the critics and the supporters of DSBN Academy. However, both Shawn and his mother were so compelling that negative media attention began to ebb and reporters began exploring alternate angles
Internal Marketing
In addition to addressing the public’s concerns, it was essential that we met directly with parents and students. We designed an outreach campaign, which was a series of informational sessions, held at schools with large populations of students in our target market. We worked with the incoming principal of this new school to structure the meetings, developing inspiring collateral, and prepare them with key messages to address difficult questions. Over 25 meetings were held with more than 400 parents. This gave parents an opportunity to put a caring face to what had been an amorphous idea. Parents were able to get assurance about the school and how it would support their children.
Brand Development
I developed the brand and motto, “Achievement Through Opportunity” and marketed the school highlighting the student enrichment and excellence throughout Niagara via a SEO-optimized website, a Facebook marketing campaign, and working with the Facilities department, visually wove the school’s branding and creed throughout the interior and exterior of the building.
Result
In August, a week before the school was to open, we invited media to come and see the school, meet and have interviews with the principal, vice-principal, a few students and their families. The first cohort began their first day of school amid positive media stories.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/a-rich-turnout-for-niagaras-poor-school/article600317/
The school celebrated its first graduating class in 2016, and has relocated from its original home in Welland to accommodate its growing enrolment.