CooperKatz benchmarked Grinnell’s national media visibility against a set of 13 peer liberal arts colleges and designed a comprehensive public relations campaign to increase coverage of the College’s academic programs, admissions/financial aid policies and thought leadership.

A storymining effort identified a broad range of Grinnell spokespeople and story ideas. Special emphasis was placed on Grinnell’s world class science program and need-blind financial aid policy – themes that CooperKatz emphasized in proactively reaching out to national education reporters. CooperKatz also advised Grinnell on effective use of social media vehicles like Facebook, YouTube and blogging platforms.

Significant national media coverage has resulted from the campaign, including placements in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Associated Press and Bloomberg. In addition, Forbes.com published a bylined article CooperKatz authored for the dean of admission and financial aid, and About.com. posted extensive informational content provided by the dean. After just six months, Grinnell had surpassed all but three of its peer colleges in national media coverage.