Smart New Ads Feature Academic 'Superstars'

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY'S SMART NEW ADS FEATURE ACADEMIC 'SUPERSTARS'

Temple University's stellar Honors students are stars at The Apollo in a new advertising campaign that's being seen on regional TV screens.

Cue a thunderous crowd...cheerleaders waving cherry-and-white pom-poms...the Pep Band...and then exuberant Temple students racing out onto the floor of The Forum at The Apollo of Temple. At the bottom of the screen is each student's name, high school, and major, while two play-by-play announcers cite their academic achievements. "If you want to see smart students, this is the place," avers one of the enthusiastic "sportscasters."

The campaign is the brainchild of Temple Vice President Tom Maxey, who was a top executive at N.W. Ayer in New York before coming to Temple.

Why use The Apollo--the University's new sports/convocation/entertainment center and home court of the Temple Owls--as the prop for TV commercials touting academics? "Temple is nationally famous for the prowess of its men's basketball team," Maxey explained. "What is less well-known are the thousands of very good students who attend this University. Of particular interest are the nearly 1,000 high-achieving Honors students whose high GPAs are only exceeded by their remarkably diverse activities outside the classroom.

"When I put our basketball program, these terrific Temple students, and The Apollo of Temple together, the commercials almost wrote themselves," he said.

After Temple President Peter J. Liacouras gave the green light, the commercials were produced with the help of Tierney & Partners, Temple's advertising agency, the production company of Edge Films in New York, and "hundreds of devoted Temple people, too numerous to mention," Maxey recalled. He and marketing/advertising administrator Marcie Mackin assembled Temple cheerleaders, the Temple Pep Band, the 500 cheering "extras," and the Temple students who star in the spots.

"The students are great," said Maxey. "Their talents and interests are spectacular."

The campaign has one 60-second and three 30-second spots, and they include Juan "Pepe" Sanchez, Temple's outstanding point guard, who is as adept on the basketball court as he is in the classroom, with a 3.4 GPA in history.

Maxey said the commercials will run for the next two months, which is a key decision-making time for many students and universities. They can be seen on stations in the Philadelphia metropolitan region, Harrisburg, and Wilkes Barre/Scranton, during a variety of programming.

"We're hearing good things about the commercials," Maxey said. "But the real payoff, we hope, will be the many new Temple students who will join the academic role models already here."

For more information, call Harriet K. Goodheart, director, at Temple's News Bureau, 215-204-7476. hkg-527 *** January 18, 1999