Durham Academy
Giving Day Branding
Challenge
Durham Academy's Philanthropy Team was looking for a way to tie school spirit together with philanthropic initiatives. They wanted to rebrand giving day — which previously had been focused on highlighting everyday heroes — to be more focused on school spirit.
Process
Leaning on traditional school spirit imagery — pennants, banners, and the school logo — I created a new logo, a promotional video, street banners, signs for students and staff to hold during carline, custom email templates, as well as social media assets. Parallel to the design rebrand, I worked alongside other members of the Marketing and Communications team (providing video graphics as needed and acting as the Storyboard Artist) to create a spoof video series based on Ferris Bueller's Day Off — Ulku-Steiner's Day of Giving — that released throughout the day. The spoof video series pulled double duty. Not only did the nostalgia of the 80's classic created a subconscious connection to school spirit reinforcing the new branding, Durham Academy's head of school, Mr. Ulku-Steiner, was on a study leave during Giving Day. This series, filmed and edited before he left for his sabbatical, gave an opportunity to put him in front of school community without having to interrupt his study leave.
Result
Together, the rebrand and spoof videos generated excitement, conversation and memories between families, faculty, staff, and students at all division points. The car line signs were a huge hit with the preschool and lower school divisions giving countless students the opportunity to be part the day's excitement, forever connecting Giving Day with the thrill of school spirit. The video series was incredibly popular with the middle school and upper school divisions as well as alumni and parents. By the end of the Giving Day 1,028 individuals made gifts totaling over $467,000.
