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Cristo Rey Birmingham
Coverage totaled 11 placements across six outlets
Reaching 970,394 unique online visitors and 160,197 local broadcast viewers
A Birmingham Catholic high school, known for pairing a college-prep education with its Corporate Work Study model, was preparing for a pivotal name change from Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School to Cristo Rey Birmingham.
This change reflected its evolving identity and growing reach while staying true to its mission and values. With students coming from 31 zip codes across the metro and a three-year streak of 100% college acceptance, the school needed the transition handled with clarity and care across a wide range of stakeholders. It engaged Markstein to lead that effort.
Markstein began with stakeholder interviews across students, parents, alumni, faculty, and clergy. These insights shaped an audience messaging playbook built around four key groups.
For the launch itself, Markstein built a full communications toolkit: internal and external email templates, a SEO and social media strategy, historical timeline infographic, and bilingual family resources.
A press release and targeted media outreach carried the story to local, regional, education, Catholic, and Black and Hispanic outlets, and a brand application guide kept the new name consistent across signage, stationery, uniforms, and merchandise.
The announcement became a Birmingham story. In the 30 days following the June 29 launch, the new name was carried by the market’s two largest television newsrooms, its Spanish-language station, the metro’s leading parenting publication, a national daily news podcast, and The Passionists of Holy Cross Province.
President Bo Garrett sat for interviews with WVTM 13, ABC 33/40, and The Birmingham Times. Coverage totaled 11 placements across six outlets, reaching 970,394 unique online visitors and 160,197 local broadcast viewers, and every tracked article scored positive.