Football fans are used to seeing a University of Akron commercial wedged amid the pitches for chips and cars in the Super Bowl.
This year they’ll have a hand in getting it on the air.
UA is asking folks to vote by noon Friday on one of its three 30-second Super Bowl ads. The winning commercial will be shown during Sunday night’s game.
Wayne Hill, chief marketing officer for UA, said the ads are part of the university’s new “Energy of Innovation” campaign that will unfold over the next month to six weeks.
This year, the commercials showcase six UA research areas “that can truly change the world,” according to the university.
UA President Luis Proenza asks, “What is the energy of innovation?” as a bouncing “energy ball” from last year’s commercial makes a repeat appearance.
The university has purchased airtime on the Cleveland affiliate of NBC, WKYC-TV (Channel 3), for the ad to run three times Sunday: pregame, during the game and during the news.
The winning ad and its two siblings will air 2,418 times during the next two weeks on network and cable channels, Hill said.
He said B.E. Productions of Columbus produced the ads for $129,000. Air time on TV and radio plus newspaper ads will come to $150,000, bringing the total price tag for the campaign to $279,000.
The university already has a contract in place for digital billboards, and the new ads will join the rotation.
This is UA’s 14th trip to the Super Bowl. It is the only tax-supported university in Ohio to advertise on the game for so many years. Many have never done so at all, citing the cost of air time and ad production.
Hill said the ads are valuable, even though he cannot tie them directly to UA’s successes.
“Effective advertising and marketing relies on repetition,” he said. “We view this campaign, which includes the Super Bowl ad, as part of our overall marketing and advertising effort, which has yielded strong results.”
He said that research conducted for the university indicates that 90 percent of prospective students residing in the five-county area have a positive impression of UA. That number is up from 78 percent in 1998, he said.
As for the new commercials, all three are similar, but each promotes two different research areas, such as efforts to prevent rust on bridges and clean the air that bellows from smokestacks.
They are available for viewing — and voting — at www.uakron.edu/innovation. The web pages include broader explanations of the research cited in the ads.
UA began to air SuperBowl ads in 1999 with a modest $25,000 spot featuring a classical guitar student reminiscing about his UA experiences for the “Change Your Mind” campaign.
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
