IUPUI

IUPUI Web Site Brings Home the Gold in Admissions Advertising

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus Web site has captured the top prize in the country's oldest and largest educational advertising competition.

The site, www.iupui.edu, is a gold prize winner in the 22nd Annual Admissions Advertising Awards competition sponsored by Admissions Marketing Report. Produced by the IUPUI Office of Communications and Marketing, the Web site took the first place honors in the Internet/Worldwide Web Site category for schools with 20,000 or more students.

"A national panel of judges reviewed every entry for execution, creativity, quality, consumer appeal, and overall breakthrough advertising content," said Jan Michael Lok, publisher of Admissions Marketing Report.

Judges included admissions marketers, advertising creative directors, marketing and advertising professionals and the Admissions Marketing Report Editorial Board.

"Winning this award says we are cranking out ad-agency-quality work," IUPUI Communications and Marketing Executive Director Troy Brown said. "What we are trying to do in this office is to be on the cutting edge of new media. This award affirms that we have the talent to pull it off."

The web site is the collaborative work of a team of new media specialists under the direction of Steve Hodges, electronic media manager. The new media team includes Hodges; Ric Burrous, online writer/editor; Scott Chevalier, IUPUI Webmaster; Shawn Plew and Michelle Werner, Web specialists; and John Gentry Jr., photographer.

"When Steve was hired two years ago, he and his team were charged with getting IUPUI on the cutting edge of new media technology in terms of how it is delivered from a higher education standpoint," Brown said. "The Gold Admissions Marketing Award says that the team has met that challenge."

The award-winning IUPUI Web site includes video clips, still color photography, and a vibrant visual background. Content includes campus interviews, new items, and a calendar of events. The site went live Dec. 18, 2006, replacing an older, more static design.

The new Web site was targeted to meet the needs, desires and goals of users based on surveys of outstanding Web sites at institutions across the country, and research into what users wanted from higher education sites, Hodges said.

The willingness to think outside the box was a critical component in the development of the new site, Hodges said.

"Often Web developers just improve an old site... one round at a time," Hodges said. "We asked what do we want, scratched what we had, and started fresh."

Utah State University's campus Web site and the Colorado University admissions Web site, respectively, won the silver and bronze prizes in the category with IUPUI.

More than 1,200 colleges, universities and secondary schools entered this year's competition, submitting more than 2,100 entries in a number of areas including newspaper advertising, internal and external publications, radio advertising, and billboards, to name a few. IUPUI was one of 224 institutions to receive a gold award.

Admissions Marketing Report, a product of HMR Publications Group, is the nation's leading marketing publication for higher education. Almost 4,000 higher education marketers read the publication each month.

For additional information, go to Admissions Marketing Report Competition Website