Sky-high marketing

One of the many great things about marketing — and by “marketing,” I mean the art of getting a client’s message out in an effective and eye-catching way — is the way it inspires those behind the scenes to go above and beyond for a project. Take, for example, a film shoot that could have been routine… routine, that is, if it weren’t for a director who’s willing to go above and beyond to translate big ideas into small-screen reality.

In the summer, we began planning for a new television spot for Western Kentucky University’s football team. It was the Hilltoppers’ first year as a Division I program, and we wanted to give them a commercial that was equal to the higher level of competition they’d be facing. They had just finished at $35 million stadium expansion, and had already settled on the theme of “See It. Believe It. Achieve It.” So, we developed a 30-second spot that would illustrate the anticipation and energy that was driving the team as a daunting season approached. Part of the visual idea was a “mile-high” shot — a single trip from the clouds down to the stadium, and ultimately to the face of a gridiron warrior preparing for battle. It was our “big idea,” one that would (quite literally) take WKU’s message to a higher level. But how to do it?

The director, our close associate Gabe McCauley, started searching for an answer; what he found was something none of us expected. Gabe hooked up with a company called Micro Aerial Projects, who brought out a super-duper-high-tech, helicopterish, “Star Wars”-looking drone — a tiny piece of equipment that can fly a mile high, or many miles away, and can stay planted in a particular spot in the air thanks to GPS technology. Just getting to see it was cool enough — and some of us even got the opportunity to fly it a bit! — but the truly amazing part was the final result: An breathtaking aerial shot that provided the perfect backdrop for the rest of the spot. But don’t take my word for it — check it out yourself!

If it weren’t for someone (in this case, Gabe) really stepping up to the plate, we could have ended up producing a cookie-cutter sports commercial. But who would that attract; who would even notice? Which brings me back to the true joy of marketing: being able to powerfully present our clients’ distinct messages — in ways that they might never had considered — and see them prosper because of it. We do it every day… but it never gets old.