Watch the “Enroll. Attend. Engage.” award-winning video.
Hand sanitizer, masking and bread baking may have seen a bump in 2020-2021, but post-pandemic school enrollment numbers had yet to catch up. Nationwide, 1.5 million students dropped out of school for the 2020-2021 school year as a result of the pandemic. These weren’t students who participated via virtual learning, these were kids who were not enrolled or attended school at all that year, period.
Kansas City, Missouri schools were not exempt from that exodus. United Way of Kansas City, School SmartKC, Show Me KC Schools and Turn the Page KC collaborated to create a public service announcement video in an effort to increase enrollment for the 2021-2022 school year. The goal was to encourage parents to ensure their kids went back where they belonged—in the classroom. In need of a marketing partner, these groups tapped EAG Advertising & Marketing to help get the message across, and we gladly jumped on board of this important goal.
At its core, the message to parents was: Engage. Enroll. Attend. Three words designed to motivate parents to get kids “back where they belong” in classroom seats. EAG developed a video script and storyboard that was bold, succinct and reminiscent of a school pep rally. The production featured schools and students across the metro, bridging the gap between the state lines with a focus on the excitement and the need for students to re-enroll. The video’s message was clear and encouraging, focusing on students of all ages and personal interviews with administrators from different school districts.
Shooting the video was no small task because of pandemic mandates and a short summer timeline when no classes were in session. The video relied heavily on volunteers and was shot on location in different settings across the metro. The EAG team incorporated photographic stills of full classrooms, activities and projects, an upbeat drumline playing in the background and educators speaking to the importance of school with students relaying the excitement.
The video received excellent reviews and generated an impressive level of awareness through Kansas City’s PBS television station, which aired the video on its network in the fall. Plus, it was repurposed for social media public announcements that ran during the normal back-to-school enrollment season. The result? Enrollment increased to pre-pandemic levels.
In addition to meeting enrollment number goals, this past fall, the video was entered in the 2022 Philly Awards—a Nonprofit Connect ceremony and awards event honoring Kansas City area nonprofits and agency partners doing amazing public relations and marketing work around the metro.
EAG’s “Enroll. Attend. Engage.” video received a Silver Award in the Collaborative Campaign category. This is the second time EAG has been recognized for excellence in nonprofit marketing. The advertising and marketing agency won a Gold Award in 2018 for a video raising awareness for Sertoma’s hearing aid project.