Madrona School
Meet Madrona
Madrona is a small but mighty independent school located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They welcome students from K through Grade 8, offering a specialized environment for bright, gifted, twice-exceptional (2E), and neurodiverse learners.
The Challenge
Madrona faced challenges with a lack of brand awareness – and the families who did know about them sometimes mistakenly believed that they are a school only for one-on-one support or students with high behaviour needs. Madrona aimed to raise awareness among mission-aligned families, drive leads and event registration, and establish themselves as a leader for neurodiverse students in the Vancouver area. Their goal was to increase inquiries and applications from right-fit families – to ultimately grow their enrollment.
The Strategy
We took a deep dive into researching Madrona, their market in Vancouver, their right-fit families, their past marketing efforts, and their competitors – and developed two core target audiences complete with customer journeys and digital targeting frameworks. Altogether this enabled us to map the right message to the right platform at the right time, in order to move families through from awareness to familiarity and consideration to conversion (and ultimately, loyalty where they’ll become advocates for the school).
- Potential Primary School Families are looking for an education that will support and challenge their bright, gifted, or twice-exceptional child academically and through social-emotional integration.
- Potential Intermediate School Families have already experienced a school that may not have worked for their child, and they are looking for a better fit – academically and socially. They’re prioritizing an education with personalized pathways tailored to their child’s unique strengths and challenges.
Madrona offers expertise in bright, gifted, and 2E education, while providing an unparalleled joyful environment where students feel understood, affirmed, and celebrated for who they are. Their right fit families are looking for this kind of environment where their children can feel safe to embrace their gifts. They also value a strong, supportive community and the guidance of qualified educators.
The Execution
Our concept – GREAT MINDS THINK DIFFERENTLY – is designed to show how gifted children don’t need to conform to fit in at Madrona. Their uniqueness is welcomed, encouraged, and affirmed. This concept celebrates each student’s individuality and highlights Madrona’s philosophy that differences are strengths – and that community is built through curiosity, creativity, and shared respect for one another’s unique minds.
We brought their joyful environment to life through imaginative, student-inspired illustrations that represent the diverse interests and inquisitive personalities found in the halls of Madrona. The creative is energetic but not overstimulating, using rounded, friendly typography and a vibrant palette grounded in Madrona’s brand colours. The design reflects the warmth of the school and the playfulness of its students while staying rooted in a professional, credible identity.
To bring this concept to market, we leveraged a range of digital channels – including Google and Meta – and produced targeted ad variants to reach unique audiences at each stage of the customer journey with the messages they needed to see to take the next steps.
The Results
After its first five months in market (recruiting for Fall 2025), Madrona saw strong performance across engagement and lead generation metrics.
67%
increase in engaged sessions compared to the previous period
44%
increase in average engagement time per session
337%
increase in inquiry form submissions, with nearly equal contributions from paid search, cross-network, and paid social channels
96%
increase in total form submissions compared to the previous period
We’re continuing to refine and optimize performance as the campaign progresses, and making plans to expand the campaign to reach right-fit families for Fall 2026 recruitment.
Madrona is a close-knit community of neuroinclusive children, families, and educators. Our K–8 school provides a nurturing and joyful environment where bright and gifted students can thrive. For too long, we’ve been a hidden gem. Partnering with Metric has helped us raise awareness of our school and connect with more families. Their thoughtful data analysis, experience working with other schools, and outstanding support have made our collaboration both impactful and enjoyable.
Metric Marketing creates results through data-driven big ideas. Read more of our success stories, learn more about the services we offer, or use the contact form below to get in touch with our team.
Read more case studies like this:
Are you looking for a new agency?
We'd love to talk to you. Whether it's a needs analysis or brand consultation, a strategy session, or just coffee — the conversation will be valuable to your organization.