Two Spots / A Thousand Requirements
Sometimes creative boundaries are helpful. Other times they make you want to cry, like for this preroll spot: we needed to write two :15s that were different for two distinct markets (CHI & MSP), featured a buttload of locations, were ethnically and racially diverse, showed that Lincoln isn't in the middle of a cornfield, followed previous institutional broadcast spots (2012; 2014), fit within a super tiny budget, and—oh yeah—you know, didn't suck.
So, I started creative development with two goals: tell a compelling story and make prospects say, "What the heck? That's in Lincoln? OMG LET ME CLICK THE LINK NOW."
The creative concept evolved around a story that fit both markets—out of state students have to be bold to choose NEBRASKA. We're the underdog in the Big Ten (in terms of enrollment and state size), and who the hell knows that Lincoln is actually a cool town?
The spots are differentiated by market based on where we start the story of the spot—either in Chicago or Minneapolis.
As part of a larger media campaign, the ads lead to a campaign landing page where students could learn more about UNL.
See the spots below.
I would also be remiss if I didn't offer special thanks to my co-director and cinematographer Amanda Christi for all the work on these spots.
