I saw someone ask about this commercial Miami has been running during games. Here you go!
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Not good and will not move any discernible metric. An absolute word dump with no central focus. It can’t be a tv spot. That thing was like a million minutes long. To me, there should be one central idea that connects the dots. Any school could have made this despite whatever the vo said because these college ads are all shot the same way creating wallpaper.
Pro tip: make ten second long commercials that focus on one cool fact about Miami. Make a shit to of them and run them on remnanent media you get for cheap. That would make a bigger impact. Also don’t depend on VO. A lot of people don’t keep their devise volume up. Make the message all type.
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A thirty second version of this is what runs during games. I have no idea what the current online advertising Miami does looks like, since I’m not in the target audience but would guess it’s based on the same campaign adapted to non-TV formats.
College commercials are such a missed opportunity.
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What discernible metric are you wanting to move? I disagree that there is no central focus to the commercial. Seems to me the commercial is focusing on exactly what most parents (and some potential students) want to hear nowadays and that is ROI, as opposed to hearing anything about the actual education one might received… rightly or wrongly.
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I actually think it is pretty good. In two minutes it runs through a lot, most importantly, ROI. And things Miami has other schools don’t like a campus in Europe and that screen thing in McVey.
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I know you may not agree with me but this isn’t getting butts through the gates. The problem is, the media landscape has changed and no one is watching commercials of this style. For a number of reasons: People have fractured attention spans. Too many distractions. And this thing is a mile long. They watch tv while looking at multiple devices. They dvr through commercials. Back when ads like this could work there was only tv and few cable options. People had to watch. Today, this spot gets made, then gets put on a website and 4 people view it. And even if they see it on tv it does nothing save for create basic awareness which I’m willing to bet is not a problem with Miami. And there’s no way to even prove it worked. If you put a QR in it that a special offer (carbonated drink at Millett) at least you could track it.
Another idea: if we have so many wealthy alum, have them be in the ad. At least they have social clout.
I just now showed this commercial to my 7th-grade daughter, and asked her what she thought of it:
“It was good, but it was too long.”
I asked what was good about it.
“I liked that Miami students graduate and make a lot of money. I want to be a good provider for my family, and that way I can have 2 dogs.”
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First, very good post. I am not a marketing or TV exec. But you obviously have a great deal of knowledge about both.
I have a more “just watch it because it’s about Miami” and watched the ad. My initial thought was great. It was well done. Very informative. Used objective sources to promote our academic standings. I assume these ads are directed at a small audience–high school juniors and seniors, and their parents, who are college bound. Also, it is likely that the audience also includes recruits, for whatever sport. This ad is, I assume, played at other events (college nights) and on other broadcasts
We have discussed the beauty of our campus. I attended the bball game vs MES. One of the bball coaches, when speaking about our soph class and transfers, told me that the recruits were drawn to Miami by the beauty of the campus. This ad, as do all ads, did a great job at illustrating the campus.
As for other famous/wealthy grads being included, Brian Nichol, the new Starbucks CEO, is in one of the ads. I have seen it a couple times (I think he’s the money behind the new bball arena).
So, from a mere observer, I liked it. Long, but not too long.
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If all you want to do is show the campus, put up a QR code with a message: “wanna fall in love? Scan this code.” That’s ten seconds and still opens to a long format interactive map you open on a phone. Tv ads like we run will do nothing because they are a one way convo. But, if you think smarter you can save money and get more views.
Hit a bunch of bullet points, and I thought it was good. Keep in mind, I found out about Miami because some kids in my neighborhood went there, and I did my research in a Lovejoy’s Guide to Colleges phone-book-sized catalog.
I have no idea what alternatives may be. As I said, you have a great deal of knowledge about options.
I am looking at it strictly as a consumer of information, especially academic rankings. I can not respond to you about options as I am wholly ignorant about the subject. As others have suggested, they should work closely with the FSB.
Or you.
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Which is exactly what I pointed out. And clearly I have the mind of a 7th grader!
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Most of what I shoot is of a tawdry nature so I’m no expert either. I just look at these things with the lens of “would I notice this” and or “would I care.”
I sorta wonder if tv is even how I’d advertise anymore. I would probably use broadcast in some capacity but hell, you can put broadcast anywhere today.
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I found out about Miami as a grammar school kid in the Deep South. I had a subscription to Sports Illustrated, and the football team was ranked pretty high. Who would ever guess that athletic success would draw kids to a university? Pretty silly concept.
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It might help, but it certainly won’t hurt. In the long run, though, getting back into the top 100 of the UNWR ranking (and getting Farmer into at least the top 50) would do more than a hundred of these.
I am a marketing exec. And to be fair, most of us on this board aren’t qualified evaluators of this ad. We’re not the target audience. It wasn’t written and filmed for us. Our opinion regarding the efficacy of the spot really isn’t relevant.
In other words, we’re old.
Back to my bourbon.
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You have the best handle on this board (not debatable.) But I’ll ask since you have a marketing background: would you ever run an ad with no call-to-action and no centralized point? And the choir says: Hells to the no. This is some website content filler nonsense that someone mid funnel might? watch? I honestly don’t get it.
I don’t get anything so whoever made this, might know better than me.
Do you have analytics on QR usage. Does anyone grab their phone to scan a QR code anymore? My perception is people still would just google the “brand” to learn more. Who is watching a TV and then thinking, oh look a QR code on the TV, let me point my phone at the TV.
QR codes are great for retail usage on the packaging/label when its a static image, and you need quick information to make a quick decision. Not so much when you are at home relaxing and have time to be more thorough.
Did you watch The Super Bowl? The highest performing ad was a QR code. In 2022, when Coinbase first did one, over 20 million people went to the site. Here’s a read for you:
QR was dead because it took too many steps to open, but the pandemic saved it as did when one click to camera made it easy to access. Every restaurant had one as a menu. There’s a billboard that ran during election season that had one giant one for a ballot initiative where I live.
I don’t have the analytics for this spot but without a discernible way to measure, they don’t either. If it’s embedded in the site, are they reverse tracing IP’s? Would be pretty sketchy.