For over 30 years the Los Angeles Education Partnership, LAEP, has been revolutionizing secondary education. They have worked tirelessly to free the Los Angeles Education system from its origins in the industrial revolution*, and take a giant leap into the future. They have succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations. Their schools work. Their success is made all the more phenomenal, because their efforts originated in the most financially distressed neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Their support has been for the most part voluntary: Private donations and business cooperation from surrounding communities.

To expand on their success and benefit more students, they needed to tell their story, spread the word of their accomplishments and go after new volunteers and contributors. They had tried video in the past, but the message got lost in a forest of method details and particulars. All those elements were vital to the success of the program, but the focus of the message was lost. Instead of concentrating on their successes, they fixated on their need. All the faces were dour, the music, downbeat, and the message was “We cannot succeed unless you are willing to give,”

We changed the core message to “We are transforming education now. Be a part of it.  make your mark!”  We chose bright colors, positive reinforcement and fast paced, graphic animation to get our message across. We intentionally avoided mentioning all the myriad aspects of LAEP’s organization, policies and procedures, and instead we focused on just the basics: problems, solutions and successes, in the simplest way possible.