Reaching Students Where They Are

K12 Inc. is a technology-based education company and leading provider of online curriculum and school programs for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.

K12’s Objective

K12 serves a wide variety of students, each with their own unique story to tell about the benefits of pursuing their education online. K12 enlisted Pinkston to manage a regional awareness program highlighting those stories in communities that K12 serves around the United States.

Pinkston’s Approach

In collaboration with K12 staff, Pinkston established a process to accept, vet and craft hundreds of story submissions from participating schools around the country each quarter. The scope of this effort led Pinkston to develop a custom management and reporting dashboard that provides K12 executives with real-time updates on the status of hundreds of stories in the project queue at any given time.

Pinkston worked directly with students and their families to connect with local, regional and national media to highlight the wide range of students who can benefit from an online education — whether they were star athletes who attended school online while they trained for the Olympics, or had special needs that are best addressed with an individualized approach delivered in an online setting. 

Over the past two years, Pinkston’s campaign has secured more than 2,400 stories in print, broadcast and online outlets, including more than 1,200 TV segments and stories in more than 500 different local newspapers as well as national outlets such as the Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, ESPN and Sports Illustrated Kids. 

In addition to regional coverage, our efforts with K12 have resulted in thought leadership placements for K12 executives in USA Today, The Hill, Newsweek and FoxNews.com that promote K12’s messaging on the benefits of online school options. 

K12 has also turned to Pinkston to produce a series of cinematic short films telling students’ stories in their own words and highlighting the unique benefits of online education to meet their unique needs. We also developed K12’s 2019 national ad campaign, Education for Any One, including production of a national television commercial focused on the theme.

Results

Over a two-year span, Pinkston’s original campaign secured more than 2,400 stories in print, broadcast and online outlets, including more than 1,200 TV segments and stories in more than 500 different local newspapers as well as national outlets such as the Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, ESPN and Sports Illustrated Kids (linked above. 

In addition to regional coverage, our efforts with K12 have resulted in thought leadership placements for K12 executives in USA Today, The Hill, Newsweek and FoxNews.com that promote K12’s messaging on the benefits of online school options. 

K12 has also turned to Pinkston to produce a series of cinematic short films telling students’ stories in their own words and highlighting the unique benefits of online education to meet their unique needs. We also developed K12’s 2019 national ad campaign, Education for Any One, including production of a national television commercial focused on the theme.

The success of this initial storytelling effort led to an expanded role for Pinkston supporting the strategic communications efforts across all of K12, including divisions focused on Career Readiness Education and a blended model of education that incorporates online curriculum into brick-and-mortar schools.  Most recently, Pinkston created a campaign the summer of 2021 to discuss the role of online education in returning students to school following the pandemic.