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MARKETING CASE STUDY

“Screen today. Shape tomorrow.”:

Statewide Public Awareness Campaign for Tracking Children’s Developmental Milestones

How Linear Creative’s creative, targeted approach dramatically increased ASQ screening across Ohio, promoting healthy early childhood development.

Background:

In September 2024, Ohio’s Help Me Grow program, in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Children and Youth, expanded the state’s Ages & Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) online service to provide Ohio families with children through 5 years of age a cost-free opportunity to better understand how their child is developing. The ASQ is a highly reliable developmental screening tool that pinpoints developmental progress in children between two months through 5 years and identifies potential areas of concern. The screening process is free for Ohio families and takes only 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

Developmental screening and early intervention are critical because 90% of a child’s brain develops before age 5. Between 16-18% of children have developmental disabilities. In Ohio, only 36.5% of children demonstrated overall kindergarten readiness in the 2023-2024 school year.* Kindergarten readiness has a lifelong impact since children who enter kindergarten behind in their developmental skills often never catch up in school.

Linear Creative was awarded a comprehensive marketing awareness campaign targeted at Ohio families with young children, early care and education providers, and pediatricians to help promote developmental screening and connect families with early intervention services if needed.  

*Based on Ohio’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) measure

Campaign Objectives:

The primary objectives of the campaign were to:

  1. Raise awareness about the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, recently expanded to screen children through age 5.
  2. Encourage families to download the Sparkler: Play for Parenting app to access the ASQ and connect with their child’s education and healthcare providers.
  3. Drive traffic to unique landing pages, providing families and providers with additional resources and support for early childhood development.
  4. Increase online ASQ completions (nearly nonexistent), revealing a child’s strengths and weaknesses while determining if early intervention can help.

Strategies and Execution:

    1. Digital Marketing: A comprehensive online campaign using social media ads, Google search ads, display ads, and video ads targeted Ohio families across all 88 counties, highlighting the ease and importance of completing the ASQ.
    2. Unique Landing Pages: Separate landing pages were created for families and providers, educating them on the benefits of the ASQ and instructing them to download the Sparkler app. Frequently asked questions were provided along with tips for getting started with Sparkler.
    3. Partnerships with Providers: Collaborations with early childhood care and education providers and pediatricians ensured the ASQ was promoted through their social media channels, newsletters, centers, and waiting rooms. Marketing campaign elements included:
      • Email Series
      • Postcard Series
      • Early Childhood Development Infographic
      • Fast Facts Sheet
      • Ready-to-Use Social Media Graphics
      • Rack Card
      • Counter Sign
      • Magnets
    4. Free Digital Toolkit for Providers: A dedicated webpage was created with downloadable resources for providers to easily share with families, helping them understand their child’s progress and increase ASQ completions.
    5. Influencer and Community Outreach: Parent influencers and family-focused organizations were engaged to spread the message through blogs, social media posts, and events to broaden the campaign’s reach

Results:

The primarily digital campaign successfully engaged Ohio families, skyrocketing app downloads and increasing screenings exponentially in less than one year.

10K+ downloads
of the Sparkler: Play for Parenting app

17,000 Ohio children screened
using the ASQ & Sparkler tools

This means families and caregivers are more aware of how their child is developing and whether they are reaching the milestones that are crucial in the first 5 years of life.

Key Success Factors:

  1. Targeted Messaging: The focus on family-friendly, accessible language and inclusive, recognizable graphics made the campaign relatable and actionable for parents.
  2. Collaborative Partnerships: Partnerships with child-focused providers and pediatricians helped add credibility, providing a trusted source for parents.
  3. Multi-Channel Approach: Combining digital outreach with provider-based promotions created multiple touchpoints, ensuring the messages reached a broad audience.
  4. Agency Experience: Linear Creative has decades of experience developing and executing marketing campaigns for nonprofits and government agencies with missions centered around the health and well-being of children and families.

The team at Linear is thoughtful, deliberate, responsive, and creative in their approach. As we laid out what we were looking for and the audience we wanted to target first, they came back with excellent ideas that led to an effective launch of our Sparkler platform. Sparkler continues to exceed all expectations thanks to the strong initial rollout that has propelled its success.

Linear also helped us pursue partnerships with social media influencers that have contributed to family awareness of Sparkler. The number of people utilizing the app is beyond what we initially considered possible. We had a goal of 10,000 children being screened with an ASQ via the Sparkler app. To date, more than 17,000 Ohio children have completed an ASQ screening via Sparkler.

Sarah Taylor

Senior Marketing & Community Engagement Officer, Bright Beginnings

Conclusion:

The “Screen today. Shape tomorrow.” statewide campaign successfully raised awareness about early childhood developmental milestones and encouraged meaningful action from families. With over 17,000 ASQ screenings completed early in the initiative, the effort demonstrated the power of targeted, multi-channel marketing in driving impactful outcomes for Ohio’s youngest residents and their families. It now serves as a solid foundation for future growth, with a strong likelihood of increasing ASQ participation and supporting healthy early childhood development across the state.