Portfolio : Jaguars Athletics Enhancement

JAGNIFICENT! Billboards appeared around Indianapolis

IUPUI's establishment as a major urban university reached a new level in the 1999-2000 academic year when the campus became a member of the NCAA's Division I and joined the Mid-Continent Conference. As part of that shift, the Office of Communications and Marketing spearheaded one more major change related to the other moves: adopting a new campus mascot and spirit mark. The old identity - the IUPUI Metros - gave way to the IUPUI Jaguars.

Campus approval, particularly among students, was immediate and significant. The campus began feeling the pride of joining other major colleges and universities, though students, staff and faculty still had limited knowledge of IUPUI athletics. To correct that shortcoming, Communications and Marketing launched the "Jagnificent" campaign.

Because our target audience was both broad and diverse, the campaign had to be bold and high-impact. We needed to educate the campus, but wanted Indianapolis residents to recognize that we were now a Division I program, just like IU, Purdue, Notre Dame, Ball State and Indiana State.

Above all else, our campaign had to accelerate the pride-building process already underway on campus. Out student-athletes often felt cut off from their fellow students, playing only for themselves and their coaches. The "Jagnificent" campaign began with basketball, and threw the spotlight on our student-athletes in an unprecedented way. That was a necessary step if we were to put a "face" on IUPUI athletics. The campaign featured bold, up-close pictures of our basketball players, on a city bus, billboards and large newspaper ads. The ads focused on individual players with a minimum of copy; the thrust was "IUPUI basketball. JAGNIFICENT!"

Listen to a radio commercial from the campaign.

The outcome exceeded even our expectations, creating a buzz on campus and in the city. The Indianapolis Star and local TV stations paid more attention to the program than ever before; the campaign itself was featured on WISH-TV and an article in The Indianapolis Business Journal. Our student-athletes felt more pride, personally and as IUPUI teams, thanks to the campaign, and began feeling they were playing for their school. The success of the launch year really hit home thanks to one unexpected event: the IUPUI Jaguars won the Mid-Continent Conference men's basketball tournament, earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament against the No. 1-seeded Kentucky Wildcats. The appearance drew international attention to the campus, thanks to tournament-related coverage. People wanted to know who - or what - IUPUI was, and who were these Jaguars?