Licking Heights
Local Schools
The Licking Heights School Board had several critical goals for its brand strategy. They sought to develop a school naming convention that honored the community’s history while embracing the district's growing diversity. Additionally, they wanted a compelling district brand built on broad stakeholder input, an updated visual identity beyond the athletic Hornet mark, and a communication strategy to foster support for the new brand and school names.
Insights
Cult Marketing embarked on an extensive community engagement process to understand the district’s identity and vision. Interviews were conducted with a wide range of stakeholders, including teachers, principals, board members, parents, and even high school marketing students. These conversations uncovered valuable insights into the deep connections people had with the district and their hopes for its future.
Our research highlighted the importance of reflecting both the district’s historical roots and its future-oriented growth, innovation, and inclusivity. With this in mind, we developed a new brand identity that symbolized these values. The tagline “Go Higher” encapsulated the district’s mission to empower students to reach their full potential.
Results
The rebrand successfully aligned the district’s visual and verbal identity with its evolving community. Cult Marketing developed a fresh logo and visual identity that embraced the district’s commitment to inclusivity and growth. Alongside this, we created a communication strategy to promote the new branding.
Additionally, we renamed several school buildings to accommodate the district’s rapid growth and future vision:
South Elementary became Broad Peak Elementary
West Elementary became Everest Elementary
The new elementary school was named Lima Ridge Elementary
Central Intermediate became Summit Station Intermediate
Central Preschool was renamed Pathfinders Preschool
Through thoughtful engagement and strategic branding, Licking Heights School District now has a brand identity that celebrates its past while championing a future of boundless opportunity for its students.
“Licking Heights Local Schools worked with Cult Marketing to develop a distinct, professional, original academic identity for our rapidly growing school district. As a community with a rich history and one of the most diverse student populations in the state, we wanted a brand that accurately reflected our values of honoring the past while building a bright future together. Cult Marketing delivered a final product that we integrated directly into our Strategic Plan as well, providing not just a beautiful brand design but also saving us valuable time in creating our district's Pillars of Success. They were prompt, professional, creative, respectful and made my life as a Communications Specialist so much easier. Our Board of Education is thoroughly impressed, and I am truly grateful to the team for all of their work — and to my colleagues at Olentangy Schools for recommending Cult Marketing in the first place.”