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Just about the time the leaves begin changing color this fall, Memphis City Schools itself expects to roll out a more colorful and nuanced image.
The district plans to spend about $200,000 on professionally designed TV ads, social-media campaigns and print advertising as it pushes to recruit high-quality teachers, retain the ones it has and pump up a community fund drive scheduled to raise $21.3 million by the end of the year -- a task the district took on when it received a $90 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
"Part of the need for this communication is to get our own messaging clearer and more consistent," said Supt. Kriner Cash. "And it needs to be a continuous enterprise, not a one-time thing or message."
The district expects to spend about $200,000 on the campaign, using funds from the Gates Foundation, although a specific budget has not been determined.
Last fall, the Gates foundation awarded MCS $90 million over seven years to improve teacher effectiveness.
Gates encourages recipients to seek consulting and technical assistance, including communications and public relations support.
Requests for proposals were due Monday from ad agencies that want to tell the "powerful story of the Memphis City Schools system, and a city, on the rise."
The other image -- a district defined by its low performance -- is just as familiar. MCS got D's and F's last fall on the state report card and has a 62 percent graduation rate.
Ad firms had two weeks to come up with multimedia campaigns that "build awareness, engagement, loyalty and commitment" in Memphis and across a broader group of "education influencers."
The superintendent said that of 25 firms -- local and out-of-town -- invited to respond to the district's appeal for bids, "seven or eight" sent in proposals, including Thompson & Berry.
"Education is one of the most important issues facing the community, and there have been a lot of good things that have happened for Memphis City Schools in the last year," said Ralph Berry of the firm.
Cash hopes to introduce the winning firm at the board meeting July 19.
In the meantime, each finalist will be asked to create a presentation, a sneak preview of what is to come.
Increasingly, districts are seeking outside help to improve their images.
Atlanta Public Schools, which also received Gates Foundation funding last fall, has used advertising agencies, most recently for strategies to communicate information about possible cheating on state tests, said Keith Bromery, director of media relations at Atlanta Public Schools.
In Memphis, firms were asked to develop a strategy to "inform and inspire MCS employees," support ongoing fundraising, audit existing marketing efforts, establish a crisis communication plan and provide strategies for district leaders as they approach key milestones in the work with the Gates Foundation.
Several Memphis firms said the scope of the work was either too broad or beyond their expertise.
"It looked to me like it needed some pretty experienced PR strategy," said Bill Carkeet, president and CEO of Oden. "We would have to partner up with someone to do that."
Archer>malmo, the largest firm in town, declined, saying "we didn't think we were a good fit."
Cash sought professional communications help for the first time last fall when he awarded a $152,000 contract to Memphis-based CS2.
Over the course of the year, it received a second contract of similar value.
