Oakland Public Education Fund

Digital Communications, Event Publicity & PR

Background

A long-time client, the Oakland Public Education Fund (Ed Fund) has relied on our team to manage their marketing and communications for five years. Because of that deep trust and ongoing partnership, they turned to us to help bring their newest initiative to life: the inaugural Oakland Grown: Student Art & Music Festival, a community celebration designed to showcase Oakland students, boost volunteer engagement, and build momentum for public schools.

Goal

Grow community awareness, recruit new volunteers, and drive ticket sales for a first-time event—with a target of 700 attendees—all while strengthening the Ed Fund’s brand presence across Oakland.

Strategy

We built an integrated, six-month PR + marketing plan to:

  • Introduce fresh audiences to the Ed Fund and their impact

  • Steadily convert interest into volunteer sign-ups
    Build excitement around the festival and sell out the venue

  • Secure high-visibility media coverage to elevate the Ed Fund’s leadership

  • Keep the tone uplifting, student-centered, and unmistakably Oakland.

Our Approach

Branding, Creative, and Outreach—Handled End to End

Because we manage the Ed Fund’s communications year-round, we were able to jump in quickly and deliver everything needed for a polished, cohesive campaign.

We created:

  • Creative assets to promote and run the event

  • Digital and print collateral (flyers, posters, email banner, social images)

  • Email and social copy, partner outreach kits, and press materials

  • Conversion-focused volunteer and ticketing funnels

Everything worked together to build a recognizable event identity from day one.

Six-Month Meta Ads Campaign

We led a robust, data-driven Meta Ads strategy (July–December 2024) with two high-performing campaigns:

  • Volunteer Campaign:
    Clear, mission-forward messaging paired with optimized landing pages to turn interest into action.

  • Event Campaign:
    High-energy creative spotlighting student performers and headliner Goapele to keep excitement building.

Across both campaigns, we:

  • Continuously refined creative, copy, and spend for maximum efficiency

  • Shifted budget from LinkedIn (40x higher CPC) to Meta for far better reach

  • Elevated urgency and creative variety during the final push to drive last-minute conversions

Public Relations

To broaden reach beyond paid and organic channels, we led targeted media outreach that secured a prime ABC7 News segment featuring the Ed Fund’s Executive Director promoting the festival and uplifting the stories of Oakland’s students.

This on-air spotlight gave the event a major credibility boost, and brought new audiences straight to the ticketing page.

Impact

Our integrated PR + marketing approach delivered standout results:

400,000+

people reached through Meta Ads

235

new volunteers at just $10.23 per lead

200+

tickets in the final 24 hours

20%

of next-cycle volunteers traced their first touchpoint to our ads

ABC7

News coverage strengthened credibility and expanded reach

A polished, cohesive brand experience across all collateral and channels

And most importantly, a powerful event that brought the community together, inspired pride, and strengthened long-term awareness of the Ed Fund’s mission.

Next

Case Study #2