The Kelley School of Business recently debuted an online magazine to be published three times a year. It will be filled with articles, informational graphics, photos and videos.
Dubbed Momentum, the magazine is inspired by the school’s mission of turning key moments into positive momentum, according to the school’s website.
Rebecca Salerno, director of creative and content marketing at the Kelley School of Business, said the team behind Momentum found inspiration in the virtual pages of competitor schools’ online publications, as well as Whole Foods Market’s online magazine, Dark Rye.
“We were looking at that magazine, and we were also looking at publications from competitor schools, business schools, and thought, ‘You know? We really want to do something fresh and different and bold,’” she said. “And that was really, I think, the heart of the idea.”
Darren Klein, director of marketing at the Kelley School of Business, said the team behind Momentum plans to take stories from Kelley faculty, students and alumni and share them not only with those within the business school but with those outside the business school and even those outside of IU in hopes of making them approach business differently.
“We spent a lot of time talking about how do people define business,” Salerno said. “And what do they think of business? And we wanted to find great stories that kind of got people out of their traditional ways of thinking about business.”
Each issue will center on a distinct theme, Salerno said. The first issue focuses on entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity with profiles of Susan Jones, founder of innovation firm Seed Strategy; Ashley Volbrecht, founder of mobile fashion boutique Truckshop; and Donald Kuratko, Kelley School of Business professor of entrepreneurship.
The online format appeals to the targeted demographic of 16- to 35-year-olds, Klein said.
“It’s a much easier way to share a story,” he said. “You can do it through video, and you can do it through some interactive tools that we haven’t used yet but that we’re always open to.”
Not only does the online format make the stories shareable, it makes the magazine itself shareable, Klein said.
Kelley School of Business alumni, who were sent a trailer prior to publication and links to the magazine after publication, have shared links to the magazine via social media, garnering the magazine an average of 100 views per day.
“We want to kind of get the ball rolling,” Klein said. “We want to let people know, but we’re really hoping that this will be such inspiring content and enjoyable content that people will want to share it. That’s our ultimate goal.”
Inspiring and enjoyable content comes from business school faculty, students and alumni, Salerno said.
"(They’ve) been a big source of inspiration,” she said. “It’s because we have a belief that people learn things here at Kelley, at Indiana University, that give them an ability to succeed in the business world in a slightly different way than anyone else does.”
