Historically, PLS has marketed summer learning with the nuts and bolts of how to sign up or log points. Marketing pieces usually included paper flyers, calendars and other paper materials created to pass out to customers already in the library. This year, the marketing team focused on changing the message and expanding the reach to external audiences by sharing inspirational reasons behind why the Summer Learning Challenge matters, diversifying media partners and creating ads to market to customers outside the walls of the library.

Following Simon Sinek’s golden circle philosophy, the marketing team created a marketing plan that shared the “why” of summer rather than the “how.” Three different videos geared toward different age groups focused on the unique ways anyone can learn throughout summer, all shared by community leaders, customers and staff. Promotions focused mainly externally through a media mix of digital and print, and without the thousands of pieces of paper that were usually produced and handed out throughout summer.

This new marketing model led to a record-breaking summer. PLS reached more than 25% more customers than 2019. Customers exceeded the community learning goal of 7 million points by logging more than 17 million points. Customers completed the most learning tracks than ever before and almost 5% more customers completed the challenge than the year before. Even with minimal paper promotions, this new messaging and marketing approach drew customers to the library, inspired and made an impact on all ages.