South Dakota Department of Education

The Goal

The South Dakota Department of Education’s goal with this campaign was two-fold — (a) drive audiences to enter the education field or stay there and (b) encourage them to do so in South Dakota. For them, this meant reaching three main audiences and getting to the heart of what matters most to each of them.

High schoolers, who may be interested in studying education
Second-career teachers, who are hoping to return to teaching
Out-of-state educators, who are looking for a change of pace

In creative development, it became clear that one over-arching message wouldn’t do it. This campaign is made up of a few stand-out messages that drove results — Feels Like Home, Change of Place and Make a Future Making Futures.

The Story Behind “Make a Future Making Futures”

Futures are made in the classroom. And there’s nothing more rewarding than being that impact for someone. South Dakota creates opportunities for you to be a change-maker — without having to go very far away.

Make the first stop in your career a South Dakota classroom. Because when you choose to become the difference by entering the education field, you’re deciding to make a future… making futures.

The Story Behind “Change of Place”

Seeking a change from the ordinary? A new view somewhere uncharted?

A change of pace is on your horizon in SouthDakota, where our communities love their young people and their schools. Where you can make your backyard whatever you want. Where the value of an education is matched only by the gratitude of communities built on a spirit of learning and adventure.

South Dakota — Change of Pace. Change of Place.

The Solutions

This campaign was a labor of insights love, laced with comprehensive data from our Epicosity Intelligence Engine. Following insights exploration, we spent time listening and learning from the client practitioners, leadership and and stakeholders in order to better understand campaign USPs.

Strategically, we called for positive stories from teachers around the state, complete with video testimonials that were distributed to our audiences both in state and across the country through media. In addition, there was creative concept cycling, ad asset creation, distribution and more.