Walls Torn Down: Promoting Free College for All.
In 2016, the voters of San Francisco made a bold commitment to free, public education. By passing Proposition W, they provided funding to make tuition at City College free for everyone who lives in San Francisco.
The following spring, City College of San Francisco asked Underground to create an equally bold campaign to launch their Free City initiative, an aggressive marketing effort to boost enrollment.
Working under a very tight timeline, Underground developed a strategy and message for a multilingual (English, Spanish, and Chinese) advertising campaign that featured a diverse range of students photographed throughout San Francisco, capturing the energy and grit of the city in which they live and learn.
The headlines proclaimed, “Free City. Walls torn down.” The campaign not only promoted free tuition—it conveyed that access to higher education for all strongly aligns with the values and aspirations of our community.
Using a combination of strategically placed bus shelter ads, neighborhood newspapers, social media and digital advertising, Underground spread this message to potential students and their families. Not only did the campaign halt the decline in enrollment, but increased it by over 20%.
Adult Education
Underground also developed campaigns to promote their ESL, High School Diploma Programs, and Career and Technical Education programs to a broad range of working adults. After conducting focus groups with students and community-based organizations that worked with students, we created campaigns that focused on a wide variety of actual students, leveraging their success as a means to attract additional students and employers.
