A strategic rebrand for a growing school district
Olentangy Local School District is one of the largest and fastest-growing districts in the country, serving more than 23,000 students across 27 buildings. With that growth came a challenge: creating a cohesive identity for the district while preserving the pride of each individual school.
During my time at Cult Marketing, I helped lead the rebrand from research through identity design.
ClientOlentangy Local School District
ServicesStakeholder Research & Insight Gathering
Strategic Brand Positioning
Logo & Visual Identity Design
Brand Implementation
Insights
To understand the heart of Olentangy, we conducted more than 45 stakeholder sessions with board members, administrators, teachers, parents, and students. These conversations revealed a few consistent themes: opportunity, educational excellence, community, exceptional value, personal achievement, and pride.
I was directly involved in stakeholder interviews, helping turn those insights into a clear direction for the brand.
Strategy & Identity
The positioning became clear. Olentangy is a place where students are supported, challenged, and given the opportunity to grow.
The tagline, Flourish Here, reflects the concept of healthy and vigorous growth as a result of a favorable, nurturing, and positive environment.
The new logo features abstract, upward-reaching figures to symbolize achievement and shared success. From there, we developed a visual identity system designed to scale across every district touchpoint.
Results
The new brand was implemented across all 27 buildings, as well as district vehicles, digital platforms, and printed materials.
More importantly, it created a shared identity across a rapidly growing district. The brand now reflects both the district’s academic strength and the environment that makes it stand out.
