School Branding & Recruitment Strategy

FRENCH AMERICAN
SCHOOL OF DENVER

OVERVIEW

Smart Cookie partnered with the French American School of Denver to strengthen and expand its brand, elevate recruitment efforts and set the school apart. The multi-year strategy drove significant enrollment growth, increased applications and defined a sustainable outreach strategy for the school.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Brand expansion & visual identity system
  • Messaging strategy
  • Bilingual outreach 
  • Enrollment marketing materials
  • ADA-compliance

BACKGROUND

The French American School of Denver opened in 2021 as the city’s first tuition-free French dual-immersion school. As a single-site charter, the elementary school needed to build a name for itself and showcase to families what made its program stand apart among the numerous traditional and private schools in the area, as well as other dual-language programs in the city. Smart Cookie was brought on in late 2022 to support student recruitment and enrollment for the following school year and beyond.

Our SUPPORT

Smart Cookie began this partnership with a holistic approach, first taking time to talk with and listen to those who knew the school best. French American School of Denver already had a strong school logo, but the team realized the brand could be expanded to fit various platforms and better showcase the essence of the school. 

Together, the team created an enhanced brand, including secondary logo options, a brand guide and graphic elements, as well as ADA accessibility requirements the school could easily follow to stay compliant. Smart Cookie used this updated look and feel (along with the key messages they developed) to create a suite of collateral, including fliers, stationary, email signatures, letterheads, slide decks, signage, a mascot and more – even a full bus wrap! They also launched strategic bilingual outreach campaigns to showcase the school to French-speaking families in their native language.   

IMPACT

The impact of the work is clear in the new students who enrolled in the school.

  • During the three years of support from Smart Cookie, the school saw a 15.6% growth in enrollment.
  • Additionally, Round 1 Choice applications to the school increased by 32% during the same time, and the school also had students on waitlists for most grades.

During a time of declining enrollment seen throughout cities across the country, this support helped the school surpass their projections and look to the future with a full school.