IDEA Public Schools is an extraordinary organization founded by Teach for America alumni. Offering Pre-Kinder to 12th grade, IDEA is a tuition-free network of charter schools focused on sending their students to college. They continue to maintain a perfect 100% graduation rate after 13 years and more than 65,000 students later.
The Pineapple Agency has been lucky enough to work with this amazing organization over the last few years on their presence at the SXSWEDU Conference for education administrators and teachers. In two years, we’ve amplified and visually elevated their presence, facilitated learning experiences, and consistently brought traffic and awareness to IDEA each year.
Amplifying student voices
SXSWEDU 2019
In 2019, IDEA wanted to celebrate their exponential growth with the SXSWEDU community, recruit potential staff, and drive brand engagement and awareness while attending the conference.
Pineapple’s creative team honed in on an interactive art installation that would tell the stories of students, teachers, and parents in a unique and memorable way to help achieve these goals. By bringing these stories to life through real school lockers, the experience would end up being authentic, interactive, and visually engaging.
We sourced 60 lockers, painted them in brand colors, and outfitted them with video content, textbooks, decor, written essays and other unique details to help them come to life.
To round out the activation, we activated a giant crane game, a school photo booth, and a stage for speakers and presentations. The IDEA Public Schools Lounge turned out to be an amazing space and made a huge impact on visitors drawing in nearly 25% of the conference’s total attendees.
Just add color
SXSWEDU and National Charter Schools Conference 2020
For 2020, IDEA Public Schools expanded their services with us as their go to partner for SXSWEDU and the National Charter Schools Conference. For 2020 we we came to the table with new ideas but with the same mindset — get educators engaged and get the word out about the IDEA’s growth and 100% graduation rate.
We fabricated a 20′ x 30′ booth with a custom-designed coloring book wall that featured statistics & facts about IDEA, and icons that represent everything that is important to them. Additionally, we fabricated an 8′ tall tree with a tree swing inside the main area of the booth along with custom branded furniture. Lastly, we handled the production of premium giveaways and additional signage.
As the team was en route to Austin, TX to set up the activation, SXSW was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are eager for the next conference that is able to happen safely to debut the booth to the public.
