FACT SHEET: INDIANA UNIVERSITY'S NEW ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN
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WHAT:
- New television advertising recruitment campaign for Indiana University's eight campuses statewide. Four ads have been created. Budget is $100,000 for production and $900,000 for television advertising time.
WHEN:
- Begins Monday, Nov. 9, 1998, and continues through August 1999.
WHERE:
- Television stations statewide and in Chicago and Louisville. One advertisement fromthe campaign also will run during halftimes of IU basketball games on state, regional andnational television.
STARS:
- The ads feature portraits of hundreds of IU students from all eight campusesthroughout Indiana. A few are star athletes. Most are not. More than 600 students werephotographed for the campaign. Nearly 200 will appear in the first set of commercials.
- The drum-solo soundtrack for the ads was written and performed by Kenny Aronoff, IUgraduate and IU School of Music instructor, now the drummer for the SmashingPumpkins. Aronoff is best known as John Mellencamp's former longtime drummer.
CREATORS:
- Creative:
- Essex Two, Chicago;
- Hetrick Communications, Indianapolis
- Production:
- Indiana University Office of Communications and Marketing
- Music:
- Kenny Aronoff
- Photography:
- Barnett Photography, Indianapolis
- Media buying:
- Perkins-Nichols Media, Indianapolis
WHY:
- Research conducted in 1996 identified the need for IU to communicate moreeffectively with its constituent audiences. IU became the first comprehensive researchuniversity in the country to conduct an integrated marketing campaign. Integratedmarketing is the coordination of all communications strategies and tactics to advance unified messages and to facilitate clear measurement of results. Last year's integrated marketing campaign, coupled with strongrecruitment programs and faculty, helped generate a 3-to-1 return on IU's marketing investment,and resulted in the largest freshman class in history at Bloomington and significant increases at other IU campuses.
FACTS:
- The advertisements feature several little-known facts about IU, including:
- 90 IU degree programs rank in the top 20 nationally
- Employers conduct more than 30,000 on-campus job interviews annually
- More than 80 percent of IU classes have 30 or fewer students
- IU faculty, students and graduates include Rhodes, Marshall, Wilson, Fulbright and Guggenheim scholars, plus Grammy, Emmy, Oscar, Tony, Pulitzer and Nobel prize winners and nominees
STORY
ANGLES:
- The new ad campaign provides several interesting story angles.
- Breaking the stereotype. With their fast-paced, drum-solo soundtrack and quick-cut visuals, the commercials are a dramatic departure from traditional university advertising.
- Trendwatch. Colleges taking to the airwaves. More public and private schools are advertising to recruit students and faculty, attract funding and show investors they're getting their money's worth.
- Rock drummer cuts soundtrack. It's not every day that one of the world's hottest rock concert and studio drummers provides the soundtrack for an academic institution. But Kenny Aronoff, an IU graduate who also teaches at the IU School of Music, provides the upbeat track for the new IU campaign.
- Return on investment. Advertisers often ask what they got for their money. Last year's IU campaign delivered a 3-to-1 return on investment.
The university spent about $1.5 million to create, produce and broadcast ads.
Enrollment gains resulted in $5.4 million in gross revenue, or $3.9 in net revenue, for the university. Because this year's creative work is so strong, the university is hoping to get a bigger impact from a smaller media buy. It will invest $900,000, about 25 percent less than last year, in television advertising time.
- Unique, money-saving production. It's common for advertising agencies to spend $100,000 or more to produce a single television commercial. But by using student talent, still photography, computer editing and donated sound, the entire IU campaign with four TV spots will cost about $100,000 to produce.
- A sports ad that talks academic and arts awards. Unlike most halftime ads, which show students strolling through campus or working in labs, the IU campaign talks about academic and arts "championships" as well as IU's multi-sport NCAA championships.
(George Vlahakis, 812-855-0846, gvlahaki@indiana.edu)
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