Real questions from real students

The theme for IU’s new advertising campaign is all about ‘getting real.

By Susan Williams

Among the topics: touring the “coolest” residence hall rooms on the Bloomington campus; dealing with shyness during the socially demanding holidays; meeting university “stars” who have garnered honors both institutional and personal; and Indiana University’s new advertising campaign.

The campaign’s artful centerpiece, a 30-second television commercial, is built on real students asking real questions—the ones they hope to answer during the knowledge quest called college. How do you take a company public? What defines peak performance? How has information technology changed the way people live and work?

“The theme is based on the concept that students come to a university to seek knowledge and answer questions,” said Sandra Conn, IU assistant vice president for public affairs and government relations and creative director for the campaign.

To “get real,” Conn and her associates went straight to the horse’s mouth.

“What we did was interview 40 IU students and ask them what they really wanted to learn while pursuing their studies here,” said Conn. “Then we visited the places where these students sought that knowledge—a music practice room, a library, a child-care center, a high-tech computer lab and a swimming pool where IU faculty and students study the factors that contribute to improved athletic performance.”

The commercial is a sensory feast of information and images representing academic strengths common to all IU campuses. Through the newest technology and editing techniques, messages reach the viewer on several fronts simultaneously—one visual image is laid over a second and sometimes a third, classical music provides a backdrop for the inquiring voices of students and text quietly offers information about the extent of IU’s academic offerings.

It’s a little bit edgy but comfortable to watch, said Conn. “The result is a richly textured piece that rewards the viewer with fresh insights on repeated viewings. It communicates to prospective students and their parents that IU is a place that engages in the traditional pursuit of knowledge in a sophisticated, applied technology environment,” she said.

Despite its resplendent look and feel, the commercial was a good value, according to Conn. “The ad itself cost $109,000 to produce,” she said. “That may sound like a lot, but it would have been around $180,000 if we’d had to pay ‘retail’ for everything.”

Which brings about another example of real people participation. Conn said that nearly 300 people touched the commercial in its making. Three vendors involved with the project provided their services at cost. BBDS, a Chicago advertising firm, donated account executive Dennis Gillespie’s time. Gillespie taught advertising at IU in the School of Journalism for several years.

Various IU faculty, staff and students not usually involved with such projects also pitched in to help with filming, for example, or in writing a computer program to achieve a specific effect in the commercial. Sixty prospective students, parents of prospective students and members of the general public participated in focus groups to select and refine the concept and messages. Even the “talent” in the commercials are IU students.

“We used no actors,” said Conn. “We wanted this to be absolutely authentic. It’s about US.”

The commercial is on television now statewide, in Chicago and Louisville. It will run through mid-January, its timing geared to coincide with high school seniors preparing to file applications for college, or new students planning to enroll at the regional campuses. Another round of advertising is scheduled for June and July, months especially important to regional campus enrollments.

View IU’s new 30-second television advertisement at:

http://www.iuinfo.indiana.edu/spots00/questions.mov