Sun Sports partners with UF students to make TV commercials
June 10, 2009
Sun Sports’ new campaign for “Breakfast with the Gators,” set to launch in August, is not only made for Gators. It’s also made by Gators.
After months of brainstorming, eight University of Florida advertising students recently saw their ideas come to life on the set of a television commercial they created for Sun Sports’ “Breakfast with the Gators” program. Creatively titled “Feed Your Growl,” the multi-media campaign will promote the network’s Sunday morning programming, which is devoted exclusively to Gator sports year-round and includes network-produced replays of Gator football games each fall.
The commercials were filmed with professional actors and a Los Angeles-based film crew during a three-day period in May. The location was a rented house in Kissimmee.
One of the commercials features a sleeping Gator fan who is awakened by the UF Marching Band playing the Gator Fight Song in his bedroom. Another commercial shows a family rushing to make breakfast as if getting ready for an important event. The commercial ends with the family settling down on the couch to watch “Breakfast with the Gators.”
Fox Sports, owner of Sun Sports, teamed up with UF’s department of advertising as part of its Creative University project that incorporates local universities in the network’s regional sports campaigns.
“This project is a perfect example of where we are going as an educational institution – bridging the gap among organizations, their real-world challenges and the fresh, innovative solutions provided by our students,” said John Sutherland, UF department of advertising chair.
Sutherland worked with Fox executives to create the concept of how UF and Fox Sports would coordinate efforts.
“They (UF) are an important partner,” said Steve Liverani, senior vice president and general manager of Fox’s Florida-based Sun Sports and Fox Sports Florida. “It was a chance for us to give back to the university and it was a great experience for the students.”
The crew of Urban Legend Productions and Chris Hannan, senior vice president of marketing for Fox Regional Sports Networks, flew from Los Angeles for the making of the commercials.
The students’ plans for the commercial were followed closely. For example, the film crew ordered a specific alarm clock and had it shipped overnight to the set so it would closely resemble the clock drawn in the students’ storyboards.
“They really valued our opinion and took our advice,” UF junior Christina Burnham said.
The students were able to closely observe what was being filmed on a separate monitor set up by the crew, and they were able to watch the production from an upstairs balcony in the house.
Seeing how a commercial is produced and watching the production crew was a valuable experience that could not have been taught in the classroom.
“It was interesting to see how they manipulate lighting on the set,” UF junior Ashley Bowden said. “I didn’t realize how difficult it is to get the exact lighting.”
Being on the set also gave the students an opportunity to see how their ideas were transferred from the storyboards they did in class onto film.
“You never realize how technical things are when you’re in class,” Burnham said. “I learned so much about the production, the dimensions and formats when I saw it firsthand.”
In addition to Burnham and Bowden, Rachel Eichenbaum, Shane Fryer, Kimberly Oquindo, Hanna Palmer, Allison Schnur and Andrea Simon worked on the campaign.
The eight students were chosen based upon concepts they developed during the 2008 fall semester Copy and Visualization class. About 100 students worked in pairs to create 50 concepts for the “Breakfast with the Gators” campaign. The ideas were presented to Fox Sports and Sun Sports executives, who then selected what they considered the four strongest concepts.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the level of creativity and ideas that all the students put forth,” Liverani said. “The students were polished beyond what you would expect. It was really top notch.”
During the spring semester, the students worked under the direction of Robyn Goodman, advertising professor, to strengthen and revise their ideas.
“I am extremely proud of them and what they were able to accomplish,” Goodman said. “Personally, it was the most fun and most rewarding teaching experience I’ve had at UF.”
The students also developed billboards, print ads and radio ads for the campaign. The campaign will launch just in time for football season.
For more information on the campaign, including pictures and student bios, visit www.fsncreativeuniversity.com.