Finborough School Case Study

Backing onto a golf course and surrounded by farmland, Finborough School is set in 60 acres of Suffolk countryside in Finborough, just outside Stowmarket. A family run, independent day and boarding school providing education from Montessori nursery through to 6^th form.

Project: Advertising Campaign

Tucked away off the beaten track and with a poor online presence, Finborough School needed to raise its profile and promote awareness.

What we did:

Research:

Through brainstorming with the new Principal and his wife we uncovered some USPs about the school such as its homely, family feel, the smaller than average class sizes and their commitment to turning out well-rounded, confident kids prepared for life in the real world. We also learnt a great deal about their very modern approach to education and their desire to make Finborough a public school with a difference.

We followed this with our own poll including parents, staff and pupils. We also spoke with local people to understand their view of the school.

Findings:

Throughout the research we found that when asked to give three words to best describe the school the same words were being used again and again. Existing parents and children were so complimentary and proud of Finborough. The local people seemed to have no idea what a gem of a school they had on their doorstep!

Proposal:

Our recommendation to Finborough was to be bold, with a strong marketing message that would appeal to their target market and position them as a refreshing change in an otherwise staid market.

We took the descriptive words given in the research and made them the focus of the advertising campaign. We suggested that the fact that they’d carried out the research in itself made them different and this made interesting PR in support of the advertising.

Design:

The creative direction was extremely simple and typographical but highly colourful. This gave Finborough’s ads real impact, making them stand out a mile against the sea of sober and samey public school ads.

The advertising campaign used local press and specialist school guides.

Results:

Staff, parents and pupils alike loved the ‘new look’ Finborough, which included a logo update and new website along with the ad campaign. The renewed marketing focus created a buzz of excitement and a launch pad for the many initiatives and developments planned for the school by the new Principal.

Outside of the school the local advertising and supporting PR created a stir and visitor numbers for Open Days started to increase. It seemed that our message had hit our target market straight on. Now, a year later, new intake figures are exceeding their expectations.

The website, featuring parent log-in area and interactive games was designed to be as unlike a stereotypical public school website as possible. Now, it has completely eliminated the need for a prospectus, has dramatically improved communication and has hugely reduced the waste of paper used for parent notes, forms etc. that traditionally went home in school bags. All in all this has been a no brainer in terms of investment for Finborough School whilst helping them to cut CO2 emissions as part of their green mission.