Situation

Believing that a strong public school system benefits the entire community. Committed to academic achievement by raising the bar, putting students first and making decisions that help the district to provide quality education that students deserve to succeed in life, Jefferson Parish Schools proposed a millage to raise the salaries of teachers in all Jefferson Parish public schools. After little public outreach and weak support, the initial vote failed. Two years later, Jefferson Parish Schools brought the millage proposal to voters once again. This time, JP School leaders partnered with Gambel Communications to implement a proactive public relations and social media campaign to spread information for the millage proposal.

Implementation

Gambel Communications was selected after a competitive bid process to provide public relations services for the millage education campaign. JP Schools wanted to develop an educational campaign to help voters understand the millage proposal to provide pay raises for teachers and support staff.

Gambel Communications worked to generate awareness of the millage and its benefits for teachers through earned and paid media that targeted Jefferson Parish voters. We used internal communications and community outreach to enhance awareness and engage voters on the measure, along with digital marketing tactics that included a landing page, video series, social media and e-blasts.

Result

Through Gambel Communications’ efforts, the education campaign passed with more than 71% of voters supporting the measure. The Gambel team successfully secured significant print and online coverage including multiple stories in The Times-Picayune and The New Orleans Advocate. Gambel also garnered interviews with all four local TV stations as well as with Telemundo, and on various local radio programs. Other highlights include:

• Superintendent Cade Brumley attended and spoke at more than 50 community meetings throughout Jefferson Parish

• With Gambel Communications’ assistance, the Jefferson Parish School’s team held multiple webinars for teachers, support staff and school leadership

• Endorsements gained for the educator pay raise millage from local organizations such as the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, Bureau of Governmental Research, Jefferson Federation of Teachers and Jefferson Business Council

• Endorsements gained for the educator pay raise millage from local media groups such as Gambit, The New Orleans Advocate and The Times-Picayune l NOLA.com

• Social media ads reached 87,036 people in four different languages

• Total fans increased on Facebook with 623 organic net likes and 1.8 million impressions in eight weeks

• Total followers increased on Instagram by nearly 8 percent with 260 followers gained in eight weeks

• Total followers increased on Twitter and resulted in 160,000  tweets in eight weeks

• Teachers and support staff participated in video testimonials, to share impactful personal stories, which resulted in a total reach of over 135,000  people on Facebook alone.