Large banners and signs around the campus of Ball State University declare that at the Muncie school,“We Fly.”  As IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, the new university branding campaign includes television, radio, and print advertisements.

“This is an institution that has had a great history, but has an even more promising future.  And so we feel that this is an institution that’s only beginning to take flight.  And then, of course, it’s consistent with our two most prominent visual images, right?  The cardinal and Beneficence.”

Large banners adorn campus buildings and structures. (Photo: Stephanie Wiechmann)

Ball State president Geoff Mearns says the university has been too humble and modest in the past few years.  Its last major slogan campaign, “Education Redefined” came while Jo Ann Gora ran the school.  She retired in 2014.

In addition to advertising featuring students, faculty, and alumni, Ball State also subtly redesigned its Beneficence logo, based on the school’s Daniel Chester French-sculpted statue of the same name.

The Beneficence logo has a smaller shield, longer extended right hand, and broader wings. (Photo: Stephanie Wiechmann)

“But as we prepare to embark on our second century, we’ve accentuated her features.  Her right hand, as you can see, which has always been open to welcome students and visitors, now reaches beyond her shield.  This important, but subtle change illustrates our enhanced commitment to the community.”

This year’s enrollment at Ball State at just over 22,500 is the largest in the school’s history, coupled with a freshman class just shy of the largest.  Mearns says there is still room to grow.

“We certainly do have the capacity, certainly in terms of our facilities.  Because within that large number of 22,500 are a significant number of online students.”

Mearns says Ball State has made statewide advertising buys for the month of November.  In 2018, he says out-of-state advertising will likely be placed in markets based on student recruitment goals.