Sallie Mae Bank

Accelerating financial literacy in the next generation

Services

Campaign strategy and planning

Content strategy and creative design

Event marketing and management

Results

10,000+ students’ lives changed

4 billion media impressions

2,000% increase in social followership

$200K in scholarship awards

Branding

Digital

Marketing

Services

153%+ in newsletter click rate

23%+ in digital fundraising

10.5+ increase in social impressions

22%+ in site visits

Situation

To empower students to plan for college, Sallie Mae teamed with hip-hop artist and motivational speaker, Dee-1, for an epic nationwide high school tour. Dee-1’s hit song about paying off his student loans, “Sallie Mae Back,” meshed with the student loan company’s efforts to promote responsible borrowing and presented an innovative way to engage high school students. The novel pairing of a bank and a hip-hop artist persuaded educators and counselors to give Sallie Mae access to their schools—and Dee-1’s energetic performances delivered branded messaging with an authenticity that resonated with students. His extensive use of social media also fits with Sallie Mae’s desire to build a more robust social media presence.

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Our Approach

The campaign built on Sallie Mae’s “Make College Happen” messaging emphasized the company’s array of planning and paying-for-college resources. Working with internal stakeholders, we created a campaign strategy and visual identity that informed every touchpoint from event signage, student toolkits, the checks that would be awarded in random drawings at each assembly, and the campaign landing page that would empower students to access free college planning tips and scholarship resources. A combination of paid and organic social media marketing delivered audience-specific content before, during, and after each assembly. Dee-1 also cross-promoted the tour on his own channels, and a custom hashtag—#Dee1Knowledge—connected the campaign.

The tour visiting 40 high schools and community centers in 20 states over a two-year period attracted considerable interest and more requests for tour stops than the campaign could accommodate. More than half of the students said the tour inspired them to pursue higher education and nearly 80% of school officials say they would invite Sallie Mae to share paying for college tips with their students again. The campaign drove thousands of students to Sallie Mae’s scholarship search tool; strengthened relationships with school, community, and government leaders; and reinforced the company’s position as a leading financial planning resource for college-bound students and their families.

Listen, Delaware

News for People, Not for Profit

Web Design

With a storytelling approach in mind, we developed a dynamic and rich site that is authentic to the Fresh Start brand and will continue to support the organization’s engagement and fundraising goals for years to come.

Empowering outstanding researchers and physicians

Focus

Collaboration

Research

I had a huge dream to graduate college and it changed my life forever. Now, I want to help inspire high school students to bridge their dreams and make college happen.

Winnie Sun, Sun Group Wealth Partners

What Our Clients Say About Us

We needed a lightning-fast launch for our social marketing, and Sociable Consulting delivered. They were integral in refining our brand identity and crafting a strategic social media playbook. Their inspirational spirit keeps our social media presence fresh and engaging, with a focus on mission that speaks to our purpose as a non-profit organization. I cannot fully express my appreciation for Sociable Consulting for jumping in and bringing us into the social media world with such effectiveness and joy.

Sherilyn Moore, Building Hope

Chief Impact Officer

Sociable Consulting is a key contributor to the growth of Delaware Public Media. They really understand how to use social and digital media efforts as a way to build our brand in a truly authentic way. Their methods have helped us measurably improve the search success and resulting usage of our digital platforms at considerably improved levels. They back up their expertise in results-driven execution with creative visuals and stories that grab attention and motivate response. I find that we are turning to Sociable Consulting for more and more support. We place great value in our partnership!

Pete Booker, Delaware Public Media

General Manager

Thanks to Sociable’s efforts, DPM’s social media presence has become more regular and definitely more professional and interesting. Our newsletters are now distributed like clockwork and subscriptions have tripled since Sociable took over the design, production and distribution. Awareness and fundraising campaigns have included social media, enews, traditional mailings and billboards – all managed by Sociable with great results. Sociable is a key member of our team because their work is stellar, forward-thinking and gets results - and they are a pleasure to work with!

Jane Vincent, Delaware Public Media

Former President and Station Manager

In late November 2022 we reached out to Sociable Consulting to create a completely new website for the Fresh Start Scholarship Foundation. The previous site had been created nearly 20 years prior and was no longer functioning which meant we could not even access it, nor could our scholars and donors. We needed the site up and running by the end of January 2023 so that scholars could apply, foundations considering us for grants could reference, and donors could use to make donations. No small order! Sociable quickly put together a proposal as well as an action plan, and ultimately built a terrific site that had all of the bells and whistles we had asked for and then some. And delivered it on-time and on budget. We could not be happier!