KinderCare
Sharing the value of early childhood education.
Background
KinderCare Learning Centers is the world’s largest provider of early childhood education and care. The company is propelled by one simple principle: early childhood education is a balance of caring and learning to be nourished by curiosity and enriched by amazing teachers.
By consistently delivering upon that promise, KinderCare is in the unique position to ensure a quality experience for every child, parent or family member. But of course, that’s easier said than done. It requires a considerable attention to detail and everyone within the organization being attuned to the same core messages. That begins with effective communication and it requires the tools to ensure success is attainable
Work Performed
Challenge
Unlocking the impact of being a leader in care
Early childhood education is at a tenuous intersection in America. Expectations are high and competition is greater than it has ever been. Yet allocation of funding for public schools is an ever-expanding socio-political debate and for-profit education finds itself under increasing scrutiny. Worse, the costs are seemingly out of reach in the minds of many lower-income working parents.
Even with 27,000 teachers and nearly 170,000 students in their care, KinderCare has always been challenged in demonstrating how their value impacts future educational success and further, how their size is indeed an advantage (and yet not the only differentiator) among its competitors. While research showed that by kindergarten, KinderCare kids fared far better in both math and reading, communicating these advantages often proved difficult.
Solution
As with so many of our engagements, OVO was hired to listen first: to executives, administrators, center directors, and teachers. And then to parse the considerable quantitative research conducted by the company.
With knowledge in hand, OVO established a clear strategy for understanding and communicating the three pillars of the KinderCare model: 1. The promise of Educational Excellence; 2. which is further enriched by its culture of People for; 3. enabling Profitable Growth within the company.
Our proposed execution came in the form of a distilled Messaging Guide, designed for content creators and anyone responsible for crafting corporate, or program-focused communications. It would become a verbal road map for leadership and a training tool for use within each department. Leveraging KinderCare’s newly developed visual language, the Messaging Guide was composed of four areas of focus for each of the three pillars. Each resulting message would convey key data points and would clearly communicate the Value, the Difference, and a bite-sized synopsis of the Proof that supported each claim. Its simplicity would facilitate its use.
This is one of many components that comprise an effective communications toolkit. For KinderCare, it is one verbal compass guiding a diverse workforce focused on delivering an experience of benefit to the children and families the company is driven to serve.