Michelle Peterson is taking a hyper-local approach to marketing at Primrose.
With more than 20 years in marketing, Michelle Peterson knows how important it is to understand a brand. Luckily, she’s more than familiar with early education concept Primrose Schools, which she joined in June as chief marketing officer. “I’m a storyteller at heart,” Peterson said, “and I just live for these brands that are full of stories.”
Peterson became a Primrose parent years ago when she enrolled her children in a school in Plymouth, Minnesota.
“I’ve personally experienced the magic, the connection, the joy that this brand creates, and I think the perspective I have is that the brand is more than a school,” Peterson said. “For me, it was a community—a trusted community—of my friends, a community of their friends and a community of educators and people who love them. That trust and joy of the brand is unmatched.”
Peterson’s marketing and brand managing experiences include nearly two decades at General Mills, in addition to roles at Life Time Fitness, Holiday Inn Express and Pressed. She joined Primrose, which has 500-plus schools in 34 states and Washington, D.C., after three years as CMO for jewelry brand Kendra Scott.
She said a common thread through her career has been finding companies with compelling brand purposes. Her mission with Primrose ties back to a saying she learned from Kendra Scott herself: connection before transaction.
“We have an incredible vision and mission and belief,” Peterson said, “and we have an opportunity to articulate a really strong brand purpose that everybody knows and loves.”
Peterson has taken a hyper-local approach as Primrose’s CMO, noting how the concept offers a different type of purchase journey. “It’s a massive moment,” she said. “You hopefully don’t make this decision too many times, and there’s a very narrow moment where you are in the market to make this decision. Looking at it through the consumers’ eyes, that drives what our marketing vision and strategy is.”
With local marketing efforts at the forefront, Peterson emphasized the need to ensure consistency across the brand and among franchisees. She and her husband are Newk’s Eatery franchisees in Georgia, which informs her perspective.
Success comes from establishing and communicating strong brand standards and upholding constant partnership and communication with Primrose’s franchise owners.
“We want to connect with parents at a local level and drive that amazing word of mouth,” she said. “Ultimately, that will lead to positive enrollment growth for our franchise owners.”