We have worked in education for over twenty years. Our clients range from government-funded early childhood initiatives to independent schools, public school networks, higher education, ed-tech platforms, consumer brands, and youth development organizations.
We understand the specific business and revenue dynamics of schools and of youth development organizations whose funding models, community accountability structures, and stakeholder complexity exemplify why strong cross-sector thinking matters so much in this space. Education and youth work spans the public, social, and private sectors and is central to family life and community health. This work brings out and requires one’s best self.
The focus of The Next Us is on unlocking human energy at the level of the individual, organization, community, and society. This conviction runs through how we work with every client, but it runs particularly deep in our education work—grounded in a coherent philosophy of learning itself, informed by neuroscience, organizational psychology, and contemporary technology.
Clients: Art Center College of Design, Children’s Day School, Chromatik, Community Youth Center of San Francisco, FACES SF, Izzi Early Education, KnowledgeWorks Foundation, Leapfrog, Millennium.org, Mindful Schools, Moneythink, New Tech Network, Prospect Sierra, Small Magic, Spring Valley School
“Mark’s customer strategy and marketing expertise have been invaluable for me and my team a number of times. He led a 20+ member leadership team through a strategic planning and customer positioning workshop that resulted in significant improvements to our customer service and product alignment strategies. I have since consulted with Mark on marketing communications, web development, mission statement development, and rebranding projects. He is professional, efficient, smart and trustworthy. I feel lucky to be able to tap into his insights and recommendations.”
“Working with Mark has been an exceptional experience. He took the time to understand our mission, values, and audience, and translated that understanding into thoughtful, effective marketing strategies. One of our greatest takeaways was the opportunity to see our revamped messaging come to life in the form of a viewbook for our school. It guides us in all of our outreach efforts, ensuring that our messaging is seamless. We would highly recommend Mark to any organization looking to strengthen their marketing in a purposeful and strategic way.”
Case Studies
Leapfrog Toys
The Next Us helped this beloved educational brand articulate a vision as bright as its past, and deliver strongly against that vision.
In 2007, Leapfrog had many successes to celebrate. But the electronic educational toys space the company once pioneered was now rapidly changing, with new technologies, market entrants, and consumer expectations. Over a two-year period, The Next Us worked with the Leapfrog executive team and across business units to revitalize its consumer value proposition. The long-term bets made during this project were re-evaluated three years later, and all were found to be fully correct and successful.
Community Youth Center San Francisco
The Next Us has worked with CYC continuously since 2019 as strategic advisor and consulting Head of Development and Marketing. Over the past six years, our key responsibilities have included:
- Leading the rebranding, repositioning, website redesign, and messaging development for the agency’s 50th anniversary
- Leading the design and execution of the Richmond Community Hub capital campaign
- Creating serial cornerstone content assets, including multiple annual reports, Executive Director and board speeches, annual gala materials, and major donor brochures
- Leading the business requirements, design, and/or configuration of key development and marketing systems: Asana, WordPress, Classy, Slack, Constant Contact, Salesforce NPSP, ChatGPT, iWave
Small Magic
The Next Us worked with Small Magic (formerly Birmingham Talks) for a 4-year engagement on positioning, marketing and communications strategy, development strategy, internal capacity development, and brand. For the renaming and relaunch of the brand in January 2024, we led the content strategy and site map for the new website and referred Todd Schulte Design and CloudCatch, who led the exceptional design and WordPress development for the new site. The Next Us also assisted Small Magic with functional management of marketing and the optimization and integration of key operational systems including Asana, Salesforce, Slack, and ChatGPT.