This year, two former University students will be living every marketer’s dream — to have one of their commercials aired during the Super Bowl.During the spring of 2009, Gulf Coast Bank & Trust gave students enrolled in Judith Anne Garretson Folse’s upper-level marketing class, marketing communication: promotion, the chance to create a real commercial for a company.The winning commercial was written and produced by former University students Tracy Gagliardi, who was then a finance senior, and Sarah Balcerowicz, then a marketing senior. It will be aired during the first half of the Super Bowl.Folse said the contest fit into a project she created five years ago in which students work all semester on a promotional advertisement for a Louisiana business, but she said this is the first year the end result will be aired on television, let alone the Super Bowl.”I am always looking for Louisiana businesses who are interested in working with students,” Folse said.Gulf Coast Bank & Trust CEO Guy Williams said he has been advertising his bank during the Super Bowl for the past decade but wanted to give local students the opportunity to participate.Folse said the students’ commercial executions were judged and graded based on relevance to the group’s outlined strategy, the spot’s originality and impact.”I developed this project so students could work with a Louisiana business that was facing a communication challenge and/or opportunity,” Folse said.Williams said he told the class if they had a good ad, he’d run it on TV, and if they had a great ad, he’d run it during the Super Bowl.”We knew there was a chance they’d run it as a commercial,” Gagliardi said. “But we never imagined we’d actually be aired during the Super Bowl.”Folse said the students developed a written creative brief outlining a specific communication objective based on consumer research. They executed the strategy with a 30-second commercial and a print piece.”Once the students communicate with the client, the students take care of the rest,” Folse said. “It’s pretty much hands-off for the client from there.”Williams said his employees selected their favorite videos, and the bank’s customers voted on the best one.Balcerowicz said she won’t be able to believe it until she sees it.”Its pretty crazy and kind of unfathomable,” Balcerowicz said. “We worked really hard last semester to make our vision into a reality.”The commercial focuses on key points during a man’s life — from early childhood through graduation and marriage.”We wanted to tell a story,” Balcerowicz said. “In the end we centered the commercial around a young man and important stages in his life.”Throughout the video, the young man carries a baseball with him, which Balcerowicz said symbolizes a sense of security.”With the economy being down, people want to know their money is secure,” Gagliardi said. “The baseball was like a security blanket.”Balcerowicz and Gagliardi said they wanted consumers to have a positive association with savings and Gulf Coast Bank and, by showing key points in a man’s life, it would remind the consumers Gulf Coast Bank will be there for them.”It’s important for businesses and companies to realize we have really talented students,” Folse said.Balcerowicz and Gagliardi said they are even more thrilled their commercial is running during the first Super Bowl featuring the Saints.”It’s a neat thing to say that you’ve done,” Gagliardi said. “It really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
——Contact Sarah Eddington at [email protected]