IU School of Music
CHALLENGE
The Jacobs School of Music wanted to recruit top music students, develop communication with the school's broad constituent audience, and represent the school's position as a premiere school of music on the Web, while communicating with its various audiences electronically. In addition, when the school received a major “naming” endowment in the fall of 2005, we worked with the school to provide print pieces to promote the new name.
PROCESS & SOLUTION
IU Marketing and IU Creative Services have had an ongoing relationship with the Jacobs School of Music that has resulted in numerous creative projects to support the mission of the school. IU Marketing designed extensive market research with current and prospective students, and IU Creative Services staff assisted in collecting this data. The results of this research informed both the recruitment publications and the development of a new Web presence for the school.
On various projects, we have worked with the Office of Music Marketing and Publicity, the Music Admissions Office, and the Music Web Committee. Following are products developed to achieve the school's goals:
- Recruitment Pieces: Based on research with current and prospective students, we developed a series of print pieces to recruit top students to the School of Music. A four-color viewbook featured the school's one-on-one instruction with a series of paired student/faculty testimonials. The piece also highlighted other themes identified in the market research: the high ranking of the school nationally, the many opportunities to perform in world-class facilities, and the advantage of a conservatory quality music education combined with the offerings of a major research university. An 8 1/2 by 11 inch search piece highlighting the same messages unfolded into a 17 x 22 inch poster that prospective students, guidance counselors, and teachers could post on their walls.
- New Web Site: After extensive research and stakeholder interviews, we developed a new Web site that represents the school's position as a premiere school of music and communicates with its various audiences. The site included a new design, new architecture, and new content with special emphasis on admissions and events subsites. The site includes several Flash files including a custom audio player, virtual tour, timeline, and home page feature. In addition, we developed a comprehensive faculty database and many student profiles and features. As part of the project, the Web Team worked with the IU Office of the Treasurer and UITS to build a virtual MarketPlace.
- IU Music Magazine: A creative team worked with the Office of Music Marketing and Publicity to develop IU Music, a four-color magazine designed to reflect the preeminent stature of the IU Jacobs School of Music to alumni, students, faculty, staff, friends/donors, and other universities and schools of music. The publication includes feature-length articles, shorter feature items, School of Music news, alumni news, and development news.
- Print Pieces for Naming Gift: When the school received a $40 million naming gift from a donor, we developed a series of pieces including an invitation and a program for the event announcing the naming of the IU Jacobs School of Music and a program for the concert that celebrated the naming.
RESULTS
The Jacobs School of Music reports positive responses to its numerous initiatives. For example, since the launch of the new Web site, traffic has increased substantially. We believe this represents an increase in the number of visits by prospective students and their parents and by members of the local community who are using the site to find out about Jacobs School of Music events open to the public. Many prospective students have told the music admissions director that they like the new Web site, and she reports that the students who visit the Jacobs School of Music are more informed about admissions and audition procedures because of the site.
