Creative Services wins gold award

IU’s Office of Creative Services won the top national award from the Council for Advancement of Education this month.

The gold award it received was for its “Innovate Indiana” campaign, which used its Web site, postcards, brochures and print advertisements to showcase IU’s contribution to the state economy.

“We have been working with print and written materials for a long time, and one of our goals was to show how important IU is to the state, its entrepreneurs, alumni, students and faculty,” said Rebecca Salerno, co-director of the Office of Creative Services and one of the co-creators of the “Innovate Indiana” campaign.

The office had two goals in mind when it created the campaign: to help educate the state of Indiana on the importance of IU’s contribution to the economy and to demonstrate the “nurturing and successful business
environment in the state as a whole,” said Cassie Johnston, interactive art director and team member of the group that conceptualized the campaign.

In 2007, the Office of Creative Services won a Webby Award for its Web site. But this year’s award is only given to two campaigns annually and was a great opportunity to show what IU has done not just for the state but for the country, Johnston said.

“It was important for us to come up with a concept that resonated with a broad audience of Hoosiers,” Johnston said. “We have a great collection of powerful Indiana University business success stories, so we built the campaign around those. We felt that those successful businesspeople were what truly told the story of IU’s relationship with the changing Indiana economy.”

The Office of Creative Services is starting its second phase of the campaign soon, in which it will feature some of the accomplishments made by IU and its graduates.