VIEWPOINT SCHOOL

Calabasas, CA

Client Challenge

Founded in 1961, Viewpoint School is a K-12, co-educational day school located in Southern California. Competitive with some of the top schools in the greater Los Angeles area, Viewpoint nonetheless remains relatively less well-known than older schools in the area. Art & Science Group was retained to conduct a research and planning assignment to help the School develop a differentiated brand and competitive positioning strategy.

Our Approach

To better understand how the market perceived Viewpoint, our research plan included interviews with influencers of school choice in the area, parents of students who declined the school’s offer of admission, matriculating families, and national K-12 education thought-leaders.

“The research findings revealed the reasons why matriculants chose Viewpoint and why admit-declines didn’t, and it was presented in a way that was crisp and in stark relief. It gave us a sense of clarity that was important. The full, rich compendium of remarks from thought-leaders about where independent schools are heading was incredibly valuable. It reinforces the idea that it’s not just about getting better each year but about being distinctive."

- Amy Maentz, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Viewpoint School

The Results

Previously, Viewpoint’s community struggled with how to talk about the school in the most unified and effective ways. Now the entire school community has rallied around a positioning strategy. Leaders cite as especially valuable results from the project:

Identification of the core strengths of Viewpoint valued most by prospective parents
Development of a brand platform and salient messages to be communicated to all school constituencies
A process that helped gain a vote of confidence from the faculty
Full engagement of administrative and trustee leaders
Tangible recommendations for programs, communications and development

“The rapport our long-time head of school established with Ben Edwards early on was strong, and he saw the firm as an educational powerhouse. Art & Science Group’s research was of the highest quality, based on solid analytical principles and thorough analysis. But more than that, Art & Science Group took the extra time to understand us so that it was not just about best practices, but about our special circumstances and distinctions as a school. The team has great emotional intelligence and a great read on our community. By choosing Art & Science, we weren’t choosing a flashy approach, but rather a partner who can help lead us through a variety of institutional challenges going forward.”