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Indiana University
IU Brand
Brand Strategy

Standing out in the crowd

Higher education is a sea of sameness. Indiana University’s brand strategy ensures that we have a distinct identity that builds awareness and strengthens our reputation—in the state, across the country, and around the world.

A large IU trident sculpture sits inside an airport lobby.

Integrating brand and strategy

A strategy explains what we want to accomplish. For instance, IU 2030 seeks to make an extraordinary impact with students transformed, discoveries made, and communities strengthened. The ideal result? Increased enrollment, improved student experiences and outcomes, and expanded fundraising.

By contrast, a brand helps determine how we’ll get there. It asks two key questions:

  1. What strategic initiatives, programming, and actions align with our brand?
  2. How do they help us tell compelling stories and inspire our brand expression?

Defining success

Above all else, our brand should tell a consistent story about who we are and what we do. From breakthroughs in cancer research to global engagement initiatives, we’re thinking differently in ways that will make an impact here in Indiana and far beyond. It’s time to share our story with the world.

To be successful, we must:

  • Be future focused, aligning with the university’s vision and the IU 2030 strategic pillars.
  • Bring IU together as a collective university to achieve our shared strategic goals.
  • Generate awareness, familiarity, and reputation to increase research and fundraising dollars, student enrollment, and recruitment of the highest-caliber faculty and staff.

Brand vs. campaign

The brand is our identity—our DNA. This enduring manifestation of who we are applies across the university, inspiring our words and guiding our actions. A campaign, on the other hand, is a marketing initiative with specific, timely goals and focused outputs. It is a chapter in our bigger story and can be a rallying cry for a few or all of our stakeholders.