Portfolio : Mascot Development

Jawz represents the Jaguars prowess at athletics events.

Jinx represents IUPUI at community and kids events.

In the not-so-distant past, we were known as the IUPUI Metros, mostly due to our location in the heart of the Indianapolis metropolitan area. That identity served our earliest needs, but our ultimate goal was to join the ranks of the country's top colleges and universities, and that meant joining Division I of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association).

During our first two decades, we were members of the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics), but during the transition from NAIA through NCAA Division II toward Division I status, we decided we needed to generate a new identity, one that symbolized the growing strength of our campus. After a popular vote of our campus constituents (including students, staff, faculty, administrators, and alumni), we became the IUPUI Jaguars.

The new nickname required a new mascot to bring the spirit to life, to make it tangible. The Office of Communications and Marketing supervised the development of Jinx the Jaguar, a mascot that could lead crowds of Jaguar fans at sporting events, but also could fit in with community events that often included young children.

Jinx quickly became a popular ambassador to the community, appealing to all generations and becoming a fixture at public events throughout the city of Indianapolis. For more than eight years, Jinx has become "the face" of IUPUI to those outside the campus.

But in recent years, Communications and Marketing noticed that as popular and recognizable as Jinx was with the off-campus community, he wasn't as popular or dynamic a leader we wanted among a vital group: our students. At the 2006 Mid-Continent Conference basketball tournament in Tulsa, Jinx's warm, cuddly image didn't accurately portray our athletic prowess, prestige and power, the spirit necessary to lead our Jaguars to victory.

In order to take our spirit-building efforts to a higher plateau, Communications and Marketing decided it was time to recruit Jinx's brother - Jawz - as IUPUI's newest "transfer." We scoured the country researching the right look and feel, and seeking the right company to make Jawz the fearsome leader we need him to be. And Jawz's new look meant it was time for Jinx to get a little "facelift" of his own. The outcome: Jinx and Jawz will give IUPUI double the punch, power, prestige and enthusiasm.

Jinx will continue to "work the crowds" at community events and many campus activities, while Jawz will lead the roars at IUPUI sporting events. Look for a new "king of The Jungle" when the Jaguars' basketball teams take the floor!