School Bond – Great Schools for Great Kids
Challenge
BCom Solutions was honored to lead the successful $290 million Lincoln Public Schools bond campaign. From strategy to execution, our team assembled strategists and volunteers to build a campaign that celebrated the success and growth of Lincoln Public Schools. From an advertising perspective, BCom led what may be the first digital-first campaign for a bond issue of this size. Overall, though, this was a people-powered campaign that included hundreds of grassroots community supporters who educated Lincoln voters with positive, factual information about the role Lincoln Public Schools has in the growth of our great city. The Great Schools for Great Kids committee was comprised of Lincoln citizens who came together in support of the nonpartisan 2020 Lincoln Public Schools bond initiative. The mission of this independent organization was to educate voters and pass the LPS bond – which was proposed to relieve public school overcrowding in Lincoln without raising the existing property tax rate. It was our privilege to build this campaign strategy from start to finish!
Solution
Branding + Design Time was of the essence with this client, and our design team wasted none! We put together a versatile branding identity for this campaign that was profiled in every corner of the city. Website The Great Schools for Great Kids website housed information about the 2020 LPS bond and instructions for participating in the mail-in election. It also detailed the list of 200+ community members who chose to add their name to the “Honor Roll Council,” or list of bond supporters. The website was our primary resource for voters with questions about the specifics of the school bond – and it served as a great online headquarters for our campaign videos. Video One of the most important moments of the Great Schools for Great Kids campaign was launch day. In the hours following the LPS Board of Education vote to put the school bond on a ballot in 2020, we unveiled the “Thank You, LPS” series, which started with a one-minute video featuring two students and one alumnus of the Lincoln Public Schools district. The video was also broken into three thirty-second pieces cinematically showcasing the story of each subject: Allyson, a bilingual elementary student; Britta, a middle school musician; Jerald Foster, Southeast High alum and former Nebraska Football standout. We supplemented the “Thank You, LPS” video campaign with a series of short interview-style videos highlighting unique stories of students and teachers across the district. Content Strategy + Paid Media The rapid nature of this campaign required churning out constant content to educate voters and encourage them to return their ballots during the three-week mail-in election period. We produced weekly – and eventually daily – content for Facebook, Twitter and email campaigns. Our media strategists invested countless hours ensuring that the Great Schools for Great Kids campaign reached every voter in Lincoln by employing paid digital strategies, as well as traditional media buying techniques. In other words, our videos appeared as sponsored Instagram and Snapchat stories – and on the local TV stations, even airing during the Super Bowl! Event Planning While BCom excels in many areas, one of our favorite roles: throwing a party! Hosting effective events is one key to successful community organizing. We kicked off the Great Schools for Great Kids campaign at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo on Jan. 9 – and hosted dozens of presentations over the course of this three-month campaign to train grassroots volunteers on campaign messaging. Our designers also armed the Great Schools for Great Kids campaign with graphics to encourage voter registration, publicize events, showcase endorsements and highlight voting deadlines. Campaign branding was stamped on resources such as yard signs and postcards that community organizers used to advocate for the bond initiative across the city.
Results
The Great Schools for Great Kids campaign was fast-paced, but luckily rapid response and community engagement are two of our specialties. We’re proud that we played a key role in passing this nonpartisan initiative that will leave a lasting legacy on the city many of us call home.
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