Indiana State University

The Opportunity

The challenge was urgent. Indiana’s college-going rate had fallen to 51%, one of the lowest in the nation, and Indiana State faced an enrollment decline fueled in part by the fastest-growing competitor in higher education: no college at all. Young people, especially first-generation students, needed proof that higher education was worth the commitment before they would commit.

Leadership needed to take action fast. A long brand development process was the right answer strategically, but the institution needed seats filled now. SimpsonScarborough built a bridge: in fall 2024, the “All In” campaign launched to stabilize enrollment while the deeper brand work took shape. Within four months, applications rose 15% year-over-year and freshman enrollment climbed 13%. The campaign proved that when Indiana State speaks with confidence about the immediate, tangible outcomes it delivers, students respond. The brand platform was built to make that confidence last.

The Insight

Indiana State’s value was real. It just had not been claimed out loud.

Discovery surfaced a consistent truth across students, faculty, and staff: Indiana State delivers a deeply personal, career-connected education at a price that removes barriers rather than creates them. Students described arriving and immediately doing work their peers at other institutions would not encounter until junior or senior year. Faculty and staff described a culture of unwavering support in which every student is seen, heard, and supported from day one.

The insight that drove the platform: deep roots fuel upward mobility. Indiana State did not need to promise something aspirational and distant. The transformation it delivers is immediate, tangible, and already happening. The brand needed a language equal to that reality.

That conviction became the brand promise: Take Root and Rise. The phrase is a direct nod to Indiana State’s own symbol, the sycamore tree, whose deep roots anchor its reach. The brand promise worked because it was already true.

The Solution

SimpsonScarborough led Indiana State through a full brand discovery and platform development process, drawing on stakeholder immersion across students, faculty, staff, and leadership, paired with competitive analysis and market intelligence to surface what made Indiana State irreducibly itself.

The resulting brand platform anchored everything in four pillars: Future Focused, Unwavering Support, Empowering Opportunity, and Advancing Together. Each pillar is a narrative thread designed to carry the brand across all audiences and channels. The platform was built from the start to serve as the foundation for undergraduate, graduate, adult learner, and alumni campaigns, giving Indiana State a coherent, scalable story it can grow into for years.

Brand strategy and campaign work ran in parallel across four phases. The “All In” bridge campaign launched in summer 2024, followed immediately by brand strategy development. A second wave of “All In” ran January through June 2025, allowing the brand work to deepen. By May 2025, SimpsonScarborough delivered the full brand campaign and guidelines. The visual system maintained a consistent look and feel across both phases, ensuring a smooth handoff from short-term campaign to long-term identity. Indiana State chose a deliberate, low-key rollout over a hard launch, letting the brand take hold naturally across campus touchpoints, paid media, light pole banners, and digital channels.

The bridge campaign’s big idea, “All In,” evolved into the brand’s enduring creative concept: “This Is Your IN.” The evolution was intentional. Deep market research, a media performance report, and creative discovery surfaced what worked, and the brand platform formalized it. With the platform established, a full activation plan brought the creative system to market through paid media, Akero-tracked enrollment campaigns, and ongoing performance reporting across 2025 and into 2026. Indiana State also named its new strategic plan after the brand promise, Take Root and Rise, cementing the brand as institutional direction, not just marketing language.

Of 1,324 confirmed on-campus new freshmen, 1,306 have paid or waived a deposit, 56 more than the prior year at the same point. Honors College confirms are holding steady.

Full brand health and enrollment data from the platform’s first complete cycle are still accumulating, with stronger enrollment results expected by fall. What is already clear: Indiana State has a single, confident story the entire institution can tell, built on research-proven ideas and designed to grow with the university for years to come.