Greenwich Country Day School

Greenwich Country Day School has been a notable education destination in Greenwich, CT for Nursery to Grade 9 students for over 90 years. When the opportunity arose for GCDS to acquire another school and campus just a mile away, GCDS embarked on an uncharted journey: launching a new Upper School to provide GCDS-quality education through Grade 12.

Articulating the value and values of GCDS to a new audience of high school-aged students and their families required us to help the school define and communicate why and how its educational approach was different and meaningful. We had the challenge at hand of needing to position the new GCDS in a way that built excitement and buzz for a new offering in the Greenwich landscape (the only truly co-educational Nursery-Grade 12 independent school in town), but also communicated to current families that what was core to the GCDS experience had not changed.

With less than 18 months before the new high school was set to open, we faced several distinct, brand-building challenges:

• GCDS needed to reach new audiences without alienating their traditional constituencies;
• there was no established visual system in place for materials; and
• GCDS needed to generate interest and excitement to recruit not simply for a new school, but one that was still under construction!

We collaborated on the creation of a suite of buzz-generating admissions materials, compellingly communicating a proudly differentiated approach to education that now spans Nursery to Grade 12… yet stays true to the heart of a beloved institution.

Enrollment for the first class at the high school ended up exceeding expectations. Our materials were instrumental in driving interest and demand, and we are thrilled that the new Upper School has launched so successfully.

Our work with GCDS continues. In additional to serving as ad-hoc brand advisors, we are now underway on the writing and design of a case statement for support of GCDS’s expanded capital campaign.