The College Board, an esteemed not-for-profit that prepares high school students for college testing and admissions, chose Princeton Partners to create the brand and marketing strategy for a major new product they were about to launch. The program would use digital technology to deliver a comprehensive planning and diagnostic program to educators. This, in turn, would help millions of students improve their skills and readiness for college-level work.
It was the culmination of years of research and development and millions of dollars in investments. The launch could be nothing less than an outstanding success.
At the outset, we had two challenges to overcome: 1) The College Board was already well underway with a corporate rebranding effort; and 2) there was pressure to get this new product into market and generating sales very quickly in order to leverage seasonality and achieve revenue targets.
Princeton Partners immediately assembled team members and resources to manage the complexities of the assignment, which included research, name development, legal clearance, creative exploratory and the production of a complete suite of integrated marketing tactics, as well as sales support and course materials. By working closely with the client team, a new name and brand strategy quickly evolved. The name, SpringBoard®, was cleared and the new design and messaging coordinated nicely with the new corporate branding direction.
The campaign was unveiled by the CEO to a live audience of several hundred employees at the College Board Sales Conference, generating enthusiastic applause and a victory sign by the CEO. The client called the direct mail campaign a creative breakthrough for the traditionally conservative institution. The campaign generated more than 300 leads from large school districts and jumpstarted sales. SpringBoard® was in more than 7,000 classrooms by year four, reaching more than 600,000 students annually.