Situation

Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans (LFNO) is a free, public-accredited French school, serving pre-K through 12th grade on three campuses (PK-2, 3-7, 8-12) uptown in New Orleans. Created in 2011 through the Louisiana Department of Education. It follows the French national curriculum and adheres to Louisiana state curriculum requirements. Because its charter is granted by the state, LFNO is open to any Louisiana student. From its founding, it has attracted a diverse population of students and their families interested in bilingual education from across the metro area.

LFNO experienced challenges to its reputation in 2021 from negative media coverage. After resolving the issues related to the coverage and hiring a new CEO, Dr. Chase McLaurin, the school had an opportunity to repair its reputation, once again aligning with its academic excellence.

LFNO partnered with Gambel Communications for a fall PR campaign to publicize LFNO news, attract positive media attention, improve communication and trust with parent audiences.

Strategy

In partnership with LFNO, Gambel Communications developed a campaign whose goal was to increase positive public awareness for the school and its unique program. The campaign’s success would be measured by the quantity of earned and strategically placed media coverage, carrying the campaign key messages to target audiences.

Research into the past negative coverage revealed opportunities to reengage the same writers or their media outlets. Research into the community revealed opportunities to repurpose content from their school newsletter to pitch media. Research into paid placement opportunities revealed strategic opportunities to guarantee placement, amplifying the earned placement.

This initial research formed the basis for the plan and execution of the campaign: pitching and securing consistent media coverage about the school’s academic excellence, interspersed with strategic use of paid placement.

The campaign key messages envisioned the school pivoting from the challenges of the past, engaging audiences to advance the school’s mission and moving forward into a successful future, true to its longstanding academic excellence.

The plan included an editorial calendar and coordinated message strategy with school staff responsible for the school’s social media accounts.

Utilizing the key messages and editorial calendar, Gambel pitched media at strategic points in the campaign. First, the team honed in on reporters and news outlets that had written negatively about the school in 2021 with a pitch aimed to turn the page, introduce the new CEO and offer an opportunity to come onsite, learn about resolution of the issues they had previously written and see firsthand the excellence underway at school each day.

With that initial success, the Gambel team was able to affect the necessary pivot in LFNO news coverage from the issues of the past into the proactive key messages that define what distinguishes LFNO:

• The only free public preK-12 French-accredited school in North America

• Highly rated among public schools in New Orleans

• Earned six-year renewal of charter (typically, schools are only approved for 1-3 years)

• State charter opens enrollment to all Louisiana residents

Results

As a direct result of Gambel Communications public relations counsel, LFNO’s name, image and key messages were consistently covered in local media for the duration of the campaign, and paid placement selections further amplified the campaign.

• 30 local media stories, averaging nearly 2.5 hits per week

• 18.7 million cumulative readership/viewership

• 2.7 million impressions in paid placement