Ball State University's identity is up for grabs - in terms of promotion, at least.
The university is moving away from the personal and up-front image of "Everything you need," and said it will not hold on to the "Cutting-Edge Cool" slogan for long. But with the task of developing a new image also comes the responsibility to create an ad campaign with a solid identity that can stick around for a while.
Advertising agency Creative Communications Associates was recently hired to create the new ad campaign, and this week students and CCA will meet to discuss the new slogan.
However, the move to a new image actually dug its roots more than a year ago, with both the hiring of President Jo Ann Gora and the creation of the position vice president for enrollment, marketing and communications. The feeling that this university is due for an advertising makeover is not a recent development.
The pressure has increased recently, though, with the appearance of Indiana University's "IU is Red Hot" campaign. Although the "Cutting-Edge Cool" advertisements are a reaction to IU's billboards, the university will hopefully realize the next ad campaign should be something unique - something that can sustain.
As those of us who remember the "Everything you need" jingle can testify to, a tagline can linger for a while - sometimes even after it's been traded for a new one. The new slogan must be appropriate for this university, as well as endurable and enduring.
To ensure the new slogan will meet these requirements, the highest priority for the university is a step it's already taken: getting students involved. It's good to see the university realizes asking those who chose to attend Ball State is the best way to determine what would make others interested in the university. Having asked for student input, though, the university simply has to concentrate on listening to it.
Let this tagline be influenced - and eventually determined - by the students who make the university what it is. We must all live with the results, after all.
And the secondary concern the university should keep in mind: Make the new campaign hotter than red hot.
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