University to unveil Super Bowl ad

The 30-second ad will show either the Philadelphia skyline or Stella the Owl at the end.

To kick off its second phase of the “Take Charge” branding campaign, Temple will run a thirty-second commercial that is expected to air during the third quarter of the Super Bowl later today.

The advertisement, which shows various students partaking in several activities on and off campus, will either end with a shot of Stella the Owl or Morgan Hall North and the Philadelphia skyline.  The two videos were put on the campaign’s website, and individuals could vote for which video should air in Sunday’s game until midnight on Saturday.

Karen Clarke, vice president for strategic marketing and communications, said the commercial will air in the Philadelphia region, where 2.4 million people are expected watch the Super Bowl.

She added that she wanted to give students the option of picking an advertisement because much of her budget comes from tuition.

“Some of my budget comes through philanthropic dollars from donors,” Clarke said. “But I just think of every dollar I spend as if it’s coming right from a student. That’s my personal commitment.”

Clarke declined to state how much the Super Bowl ad cost, but did say that Temple completed an advertising deal with NBC that will span three weeks for less than $200,000.

Clarke added that running a commercial during the Super Bowl will be beneficial to the university because some viewers actually watch the game just for the commercials.

“The Super Bowl is probably the one televised event that people watch specifically to see the commercials,” she said. “A lot of people take the break during fourth down because they want to make sure they don’t miss the commercials … so what a unique opportunity that is to get your message out … here, they’re looking for the commercials, so that’s really significant.”

Clarke said one in seven people living in the Philadelphia area have a Temple degree, which means that much of the local viewing audience that see the advertisement on Sunday will be alums of the university.

Clarke added that she hopes the commercial helps these graduates, along with other viewers, become more engaged with the university.

Marketing Coordinator Kaitlyn Sutton, who graduated last May at Temple with a degree in strategic communications, said the process of making both commercials involved working with university videographers to compile shots from previous ‘Take Charge’ television advertisements this past fall. After that, her and the marketing team brainstormed to create the two finishing frames for each video.

“The whole marketing team sat in rooms, making sure that we thought both endings were perfect,” Sutton said.  “We thought that they were something that the Temple community as well as the student community would really enjoy to see.”

The Super Bowl is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. on NBC.

Steve Bohnel can be reached at steven.bohnel@temple.edu or on Twitter @Steve_Bohnel.

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