You can’t travel far in Milwaukee without seeing a “Super Reader Lives Here” sign posted proudly in someone’s yard, but it wasn’t always like that. Before the implementation of the Super Reader Summer Reading Program, each summer came a different theme, a different focus, and a different set of challenges. Feedback from children and families was clear. Having a rotating theme each year was confusing and not always relatable to the urban youth of Milwaukee. Branding different materials constantly was taking a toll on our budget, fundraising and staff time. Adjusting our theme each year caused our attention to shift to new materials and countless hours were spent trying to create programs that were related but lacked breadth. There was no value in changing our program every year. Our focus was shifted from what was important: reducing summer learning loss in a city that ranked 4th lowest in reading scores. Our challenge was to create a brand that would engage not only the children of Milwaukee, but the community as a whole. It meant increasing our visibility in the summer and beyond. It also meant making a commitment of five years to the same theme in order to adequately review our successes. We believe we achieved this with our implementation of the Super Reader Program.

Branding our program with consistent messaging and exciting marketing materials were key elements in getting patrons and community members not only excited, but invested. Our goal was to have kids all over the city see the library superheroes and imagine themselves as Super readers, ready to read to fight summer brain drain. Visibility was increased by designing and distributing a large yard sign with our logo to every Super Reader who signed up. This took our brand outside of the libraries and literally lined the streets with our Super Reader logo. Children and their parents receive a sign each year and many leave the signs up proudly all year long. This innovation began our grass roots approach to marketing and was intended to increase the libraries presence around the city. Part of creating this long-term branding was building upon our original idea to keep the program exciting. Since inception, two additional characters have been introduced, bringing our Super Reader family to four characters. The characters were created with the intention of adding value. The first, a mad scientist and antagonist of all Super Readers, Dr. Brain Drain addresses “summer slide” or “brain drain” that occurs when kids don’t read over the summer. The second, Buddy the Super Reader dog, addressed the younger children who cannot read but love being read to. Our last key element to initial and continuing success of the Super Reader program was developing key community partnerships. Contacts were made with neighborhood associations and local businesses to create Super Reader neighborhoods that support and encourage children in reading all summer.

MPL’s goal was to better engage children and the community as a whole. Since inception in 2008, participation has increased 52 percent. This increase is despite no money being spent on formal advertising and relying solely on grass-roots marketing and outreach to encourage participation. The whole community has become a city of Super Readers. Neighborhood associations and housing developments have become stakeholders and now promote our program within their organizations. Businesses post Super Reader signs and schools create poster displays all encouraging students to come to the library and read over the summer. Community partnerships have increased including the Milwaukee Brewers Foundation supporting our efforts in the community. Every year the Brewers host a Super Reader day at Miller Park and invite Super Readers on field for recognition. Cousin’s Subs, a local business, donates prizes and even holds events to honor and inspire Super Readers. Due to our branding and consistency in theme, our staff is able to focus more effort on implementing our message and reaching youth most susceptible to learning loss. We no longer look at what themed based "tchotchkes" we can give out, and instead we hand out passes to many local educational and cultural attractions. Beyond gaining valuable reading skills, participants now receive positive background knowledge and out-of-school learning.