When 2024 began, we asked a simple but difficult question: “How do we thoughtfully elevate the brand of The Indianapolis Star?”

Of course, broad questions like this one can feel inapproachable, a daunting blank page. We challenged ourselves to work within a strategic framework to narrow the possibilities and focus our creativity.

Our framework sought to find insights at three places and identify an opportunity at the point where they converge:

• Brand insight: We believe that local journalism should work tirelessly to make the place you call home better.
• Cultural truth: A “better” home can mean different things to different people. It can mean a place that is more equitable, a place with a unique culture, a place where neighbours are connected, etc.
• Consumer truth: Indianapolis is full of incredible people who are constantly working towards their definition of “a better home.”

The opportunity we found at the core of those insights was to show that we, the IndyStar, make our city better by amplifying the voices of those people, the ones who constantly contribute to Indy’s culture, civility, community, and economy.

Back to the original question: “How do we thoughtfully elevate the brand?”

We make a promise to our city. We lift the voices that inspire Indianapolis.

Putting the answer into action

From there, the campaign began to craft itself. We recruited many of those voices — people we called our Changemakers — to appear in advertisements alongside some of our journalists. Our cast included:

• Barbara Stahl, a renowned local muralist known for her work with The Indiana Pacers and Fever.
• Antonio Maxie, an artist, entrepreneur, and founder of the Indy-centric clothing brand Nap or Nothing.
• Trey Mock, the beloved creator of the Colts’ mascot, Blue, well-known for his presence in the community and generosity in sharing his time.
• Conor Daly, native Hoosier and IndyCar driver.

Our newsroom was represented by an incredible crew of journalists: photojournalist Grace Hollars, investigative reporter Tony Cook, Indiana Fever reporter Chloe Peterson, photojournalist Mykal McEldowney, and high school sports reporter Kyle Neddenreip.

We filmed these spots in some of Indy’s most iconic and beloved locations, including the Indy Motor Speedway, the Indiana State Fair, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and the Colts’ practice facility.

These Changemakers appeared in 10 video ad units that ran as pre-roll on YouTube and other video streaming platforms such as Hulu and Tubi, as well as paid Meta campaigns, garnering nearly 8 million impressions, over 2 million completed views, and an overall VCR of 49.60%.

The ad campaign launched in July 2024 with monthly creative refreshes through the end of the year.

Taking it to the people 

We also brought the campaign to life physically with an activation at the Indiana State Fair.

Working with Barbara Stahl, we created a mural depicting one of our brand’s most iconic sports photographs: Helio Castroneves famously climbing the fence at Indy Motor Speedway to celebrate his historic fifth Indy 500 win.

Stahl purposefully left a gap in the image of Helio and his pit crew so fairgoers could place themselves in the iconic moment. We brought the mural to our booth at the fair and ran a sweepstakes encouraging visitors to interact with it.

Overall, this effort led to encouraging trends regarding audience perceptions of The IndyStar.

Our Q4 brand tracker survey showed that our campaign was impactful, with audiences recording a five-point increase in brand familiarity, a 10-point increase in past 30-day usage, a 10-point increase in brand momentum, and a nine-point increase in perceived quality compared to Q1.

We’re incredibly proud of the work created for this campaign and appreciative of the Changemakers for their help in bringing it to life, and of course, for their work in making this place we call home better.

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