Sparking Imagination

Background.

When it comes to student music travel, CORMACK is as a visionary company with a mission to inspire the next generation of musicians. With just 2.5 months to make their mark during the critical selling season, the company needed a bold strategy to establish their brand and generate substantial revenue.

Challenge.

We sat around a table and painted the picture — we had very little time as it was the middle of CORMACK’s main selling season. With a crammed strategy phase, and relying heavily on team knowledge of the industry, we needed to strategically position the CORMACK company, brand, and founders with a new name and identity that would break through the market.

We already knew of the lifelong connection between the decision-makers and our target audience over the course of their professional careers, and so we mapped out the thousands of people across the nation that needed to know who was behind this new brand name, and what the name meant. By harnessing the power of these relationships and scaling them to new audiences, we knew we had a challenge worth pursuing as a way to earn new business.

We also needed to position this new brand as a long-established industry leader, building off its reputation and simultaneously funneling it to the new initiatives.

Campaign.

After four illustrious and decorated careers in Music Education, four music educators decided to take what they had learned from years of firsthand experience managing large groups of music students and founded CORMACK. This startup focused on providing young musicians with education and culturally engaging trips domestically and internationally.

As a startup entering the competitive student music travel industry, CORMACK faced intense pressure to establish itself quickly and generate immediate results. With established players dominating the market and a seasonal business cycle that left no room for gradual growth, the company had to make an immediate impact. The stakes were high: they needed to quickly build brand recognition, generate revenue, and create meaningful connections with music directors, school administrators, and students.

The tight timeline presented a significant obstacle. CORMACK needed to position itself as an established industry leader while breaking through a crowded market, all within a compressed sales cycle. To achieve this, they developed a groundbreaking virtual reality (VR) strategy that became the cornerstone of their brand transformation.

At major music education conventions like TMEA, the team deployed immersive VR experiences that transported students to extraordinary locations. Students virtually performed with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, marched for the Queen in England, and explored trails in Chile on virtual bicycles. The campaign went beyond traditional marketing, creating a multi-layered approach that targeted different stakeholders. For students, it was about sparking imagination. For music directors, it was about providing tangible value and insights into enhancing their music programs.

A comprehensive rebranding effort accompanied the VR experiences, including a new brand identity, custom sales collateral, an innovative trip account management system, and strategic positioning that leveraged existing 

professional networks.

Results.

The campaign delivered extraordinary outcomes:

• Over $5 million in revenue generated within three months
• Deep connections with 50 qualified leads for international accounts
• Established CORMACK as a premier student travel brand
• Created memorable experiences that transcended traditional marketing

By focusing on imagination, innovation, and meaningful connections, CORMACK transformed from a new entrant to a standout brand in student music travel. The campaign demonstrated how creativity, technology, and a deep understanding of audience needs can drive remarkable business success.

FIVE

Along with our strategy of ‘Sparking Imaginations,’ we set out to revamp the CORMACK brand identity and form deeper, more meaningful relationships with the specific audiences we targeted. This included improved sales copy and artwork for an elegant stationery system and sales-enablement collateral, supported by a custom, trip account management system.

Finally, at some of the largest music educational conventions, we set up the unique, immersive VR experiences that left unforgettable memories between the brand and students, educators, and music directors alike.

ONE

Guiding the campaign was a strategy based on identity and experience and was powered by the strength of the personal and professional networks of the industry. It also focused on an exceptional, transparent interaction between brand and audience at the last mile and was scaled to a nation-wide approach.

TWO

From the VR experiences at the largest conventions in music to the updated brand identity targeting new, diverse audiences, including the directors of music groups, school administrations (school principals, board members, etc), and the parents of students, we helped CORMACK earn over $2.3M in first-year revenue. Along with increased brand loyalty and referred demand, we also deeply connected the brand to 50 qualified leads for large international accounts with the VR experience at the conferences.