By Amanda Young ’11, Co-Editor-in-Chief

After hiring Columbus branding agency Ologie to come up with the “This Is My Day” marketing campaign, CCDS is looking to expand this theme to alumni, across grade levels, on the school’s website, and in its’ advertising pamphlets and  brochures.

The CCDS Marketing Committee, consisting of 15 parents, teachers, and students, presented preliminary materials and ideas for the “This Is My Day” campaign to an audience of 150 to 200 parents and faculty on Feb. 10. The response was mostly positive, according to Director of Admission and liaison between the Marketing Committee and Ologie Aaron Kellenberger. The campaign’s actual launch will occur in early fall.

The campaign’s execution began with the seniors, who helped with initial videos, posters, and student quotes. Seniors Ilana Habib and Baldur Tangvald dedicated particularly large amounts of time to creating the initial posters and filming a “This Is My Day” video, respectively.

“What really excited me about the marketing campaign is how authentic it was. The seniors could just run with it,” said Head of School Rob Macrae.

Dr. Macrae said the Marketing Committee is now working on broadening the campaign to include other students, alumni, and parents. He met Tuesday with a group of seniors who will be helping lower school students create “This is My Day” videos and posters.

“If we teach people the right way to talk about Country Day and put language to what they’re already feeling, then people will do a better job talking about it,” Dr. Macrae said. “How we share it with other grades will be different from how we shared it with the seniors and how the seniors shared it with all the parents. I would like to find a way to incorporate the seniors in communicating the message to other students.”

“The student voice is very important to me,” Dr. Macrae added.

According to Mr. Kellenberger, the Marketing Committee is working on putting spins on the “This Is My Day” campaign, such as “This is your lucky day,” a phrase Director of Development Eric Foushee came up with for alumni outreach.

CCDS’s Marketing Committee formed last fall. Assistant to Dr. Macrae and Marketing Committee member Ashley Ward said the committee sifted through all the existing research, completed a competitive analysis, and looked at charts of who should be CCDS’s audience in order to create an advertising strategy for the school.

“We felt a professional firm could help us to the next level by taking our strategy and creating a look and language that would be compelling and relevant to our audience,” Mrs. Ward said.

After interviewing three firms, the Marketing Committee hired Ologie for the job.

“We thought Ologie really understood who we are better than any other firm,” Dr. Macrae said. “They had worked with one other independent school in Columbus and worked with a pretty large number of private liberal arts colleges. They’ve had experience in schools and cultures similar to ours.”

According to Mrs. Ward, Ologie also “indicated willingness and an understanding that we were looking to promote grassroots efforts rather than executing an expensive marketing campaign that would include billboards and commercials.”

“We feel like tapping into our parents who could be powerful advocates for our school based on their experience is the most compelling way to attract prospective families to our community,” Mrs. Ward said. “We are lucky because we have the power of our parents to help us.”

A grassroots campaign also saves money that could be spent on furthering the school in other ways. “I don’t think people choose a school because they see a billboard,” Dr. Macrae said. “They are also expensive. I’d rather spend the money on teachers and equipment for the children.”

Ologie presented two campaign themes to the Marketing Committee: “This Is My Day,” which was chosen, and “A Legacy For Next.”

“[A Legacy For Next] probably would have appealed to the same people: prospective families, current families. It was more rooted in legacy and tradition than This Is My Day and we thought everyone could grab onto the This Is My Day,” Mr. Kellenberger said. “We thought ‘This Is My Day’ really appealed to a broader mass of people.”

“We were very excited because we felt like ‘This Is My Day’ offered a campaign that was very ownable and authentic and genuine and consistent with our approach to reaching out to families,” Mrs. Ward said. “By using our own students and teachers to talk about their experiences at CCDS gives people a genuine reason to believe in our message.”

The majority of the Marketing Committee and the parents and teachers that came to the Feb. 10 Enrollment & Engagement meeting approved of the “This Is My Day” theme.

“As an overall campaign, it was very successful,” said Marketing Committee member and brand designer at Procter & Gamble Jeanne Parlin. “It was very unique to CCDS in light of what the competition is doing.” Ms. Parlin is also the mother of two CCDS lower school students: Emily ’24 and Sophie ’25.

Hope Felton-Miller, Marketing Committee member, founder of marketing strategy firm Felton Willis, LLC, and mother of Scroll editor-in-chief-elect Haleigh Miller ’12, was also impressed with the campaign. “Ologie took the facts and ideas that the Marketing Committee came up with, worked their considerable creative magic, and produced a wonderful campaign,” Ms. Felton said. “I think that the My Day campaign gets the key ideas across in a way that is super-engaging, relevant, and highly motivating. I expect we will see a big increase in new families interested in CCDS as this campaign is rolled out.”

“Ologie’s exceeded our expectations,” Dr. Macrae said.

The seniors who helped out with the campaign had a more mixed response.

“I think it’s a good way to attract families to Country Day and to give them a glimpse into the life of a Country Day student,” Will Duncan ’11 said. “I thought it was good to get student involvement. It gave a true picture of Country Day life.”

But seniors Kate Taylor and Ali Breneman, while supportive of the campaign overall, felt it wasn’t completely authentic.

“I’m torn. I understand that we’re giving back to the school. But, I think some things about the way it was done are not ideal,” Breneman said. “I did two takes of the video and then someone made a comment about me being our valedictorian so then the

“On the video, I said what I wanted to do but then he asked me to say something else,” Taylor said.

Breneman and Taylor are excited about many aspects of the campaign, while disliking others.

“The campaign works really well with the name of our school and as an advertising campaign. I like how they’re emphasizing country day, but I don’t like the new logos that they’re advertising,” Taylor said. “I like the emblem we have right now. It looks really official and academic.”

“It looks good. I think it’s visually engaging,” Breneman said. “But, the campaign wouldn’t be the reason I would go to the school.”

In the coming months, the Marketing Committee will continue to work on broadening the campaign, including the student message, and preparing for the launch.

“The marketing plan has yet to be defined,” Ms. Parlin said. “We are in its beginning stages.”