The sun just came over the Santa Monica Hills and from my vantage point on the 15th floor I can see all the way to the Hollywood sign, 11 miles in the distance. Downtown Los Angeles is sleeping – most people are just starting their commute. Inside the Sanwa Bank building, however, director Pam Thomas and her crew of 50 have been preparing since 4:30 a.m. for the first day filming the 2008 “Going Pro in Something Other than Sports” campaign.
The rented office space would be difficult for its regular residents to recognize. Lights clutter the lobby, sound equipment fills cubicles and cardboard sheeting has been laid to protect the carpet.
Walking on the cardboard makes a soft tapping, adding to the array of sounds that remind me of the cacophonous warm-up of a community orchestra. The level of activity is stunning this early in the morning – coffee alone cannot prepare you.
Watching the spots come together is “much like you see behind the scenes in a movie,” says JoJo Rinebold, NCAA managing director of brand strategies and events. Rinebold has played a lead role since the campaign’s inception six years ago.
Her work has paid dividends. Perhaps more than any other initiative, the NCAA national brand campaign, which includes public service announcements (PSAs), print and online advertising and Web sites, has managed to elevate the Association’s message of academics and athletics to national prominence.
The impact is not lost on Rinebold, who says that working on the national TV campaign is one of the greatest NCAA projects she’s been involved with. “It is something that has really helped the public understand who we are as an organization and that we’re more aligned with higher education than athletics,” she says.
She is not alone in her belief.
“The NCAA is one of the stronger brands in the country,” says Paul Hastings, NCAA account managing director at Young & Rubicam, the partner agency that works with the national office to create the campaigns. The strategy was always to change the perceptions of the Association and, according to Hastings, every indication is that it has succeeded.
Judging by research findings, those perceptions have changed dramatically.
Outside the comfort zone
The 2008 PSAs feel different than those of the past. Gone are the lofty first-hand accounts that have been the Association’s hallmark.
This year, realism is the goal. As filming begins, I find myself absorbed in the story that’s unfolding, which is exactly the type of reaction Y&R; is after.
“What we’re looking for in the work we’re doing now is to make sure there’s a sense of humanity and accessibility,” says Hastings.
In the beginning, the PSAs focused on real-life, student-athlete testimonials. Last year’s campaign – which featured former student-athletes playing basketball in their professional uniforms, a mother watching her son fence and a field hockey student-athlete being watched by medical school recruiters – marked the first break from this format.
The field hockey PSA was also significant because it was funny – a departure from the poignant student-athlete stories that previously had been featured. This year the group decided to play up the humor, producing two new spots that use irony and misdirection to send a message.
The first features a play on a professional athlete’s shoe contract. EJ, a sharply dressed former student-athlete, walks into an agency’s boardroom to view his signature shoe for the first time. You expect the blue cloth sitting in the middle of the table to be covering a new pair of sneakers; but instead, wingtips emerge. The heel is emblazed with 3.9 – EJ’s GPA.
“You’re going to tear up the boardroom in these things,” says the agency representative.
The second spot opens with two boys exchanging trading cards outside a convenience store. Bragging about his cards, one boy says, “Check it out … the Jay Campbell rookie card.”
Grabbing the card, the other boy jealously says, “No way, that guy dominates in the lab.”
Both spots are designed to take common societal perceptions and turn them on their head. They emphasize the academic – not the athletic – prowess of NCAA student-athletes.
The new PSAs began running during the winter championships. Last year’s field hockey and basketball spots will run again this year.
Deciding to run the new PSAs with the two from the 2007 campaign was strategic, says Hastings. The basketball spot has a high-level, mission-centric message; the field hockey, trading cards and shoe PSAs add their own distinctive layers to that conversation. The result is a well-rounded view of the Association and its message.
Hastings says the strength of the brand allows using various ways to portray it. The NCAA has always looked to Y&R; to guide its campaign in new directions, and “sometimes that means pushing them (the NCAA) outside their comfort zone.”
“In the beginning, we needed to do NCAA Brand 101,” says Dennis Cryder, NCAA senior vice president of branding and communications. The two new PSAs take advantage of the equity the Association has built in its brand, he says. “We wouldn’t have been able to do a spot like this two years ago.”
Cryder admits that the new approach left him queasy at first, but after careful consideration he felt confident there was a “blue string” running through all the PSAs.
The glue that holds these different spots together is the tagline: “There are more than 380,000 student-athletes and most of them go pro in something other than sports.”
“The focus of that has enabled us to find a variety of ways to bring the story to life,” Hastings says.
Aaaacting!
While everyone agrees the addition of humor has helped expose the Association’s humanity in a new way, the device has also posed unique challenges. In the past, real student-athletes told their own stories, but this year the complex scripts and interpretive situations in both spots required the experience of professional actors.
The trading card PSA featured two young boys. Professional actors were selected because they convey a level of maturity and understanding that wasn’t possible with a young amateur.
One of the leads, Carlon Jeffery, has an ongoing role as Damon Dawson on NBC’s “Heroes.” His co-lead, Zachary Sauers, was in the movie “Zodiac” with Jake Gyllenhaal.
The subtlety the actors bring to the scripts makes the situations feel real. Voice inflections, facial expressions and body language combine to create believable characters.
As the day wears on, the actors in the shoe spot look and sound more comfortable in their roles. They improvise with ease, giving the scene a conversational, authentic atmosphere.
It looks so natural that it’s hard to separate the actors from the characters they’re playing. Japheth Gordon (EJ) confesses the improvisation comes naturally when he’s in character. He admits that NBA superstar Kobe Bryant was his inspiration because “every time you see Kobe off the court, it seems like he’s going to a power meeting, even if he’s just going grocery shopping.”
Chatting with Gordon, I can’t help but envision him walking around Kroger, selecting fruit, wearing a jacket, tie and EJ’s signature wingtips.
Creating that type of realism is part luck and part preparation. You need a talented cast to act the parts; a knowledgeable director to lead the way; and a script that gives just enough structure to maintain the dignity of the idea while being flexible enough to allow for interpretation.
During filming, the writers want to try a new line. Looking over his new shoe, EJ leans forward and says, “I just have one question. Can I get it in a loafer for casual Fridays?”
Eager to please their client at any cost, the lead agency executive jumps on the opportunity. “Yes,” he says, pointing at EJ with two fingers and a slick smile. “Yes, absolutely.”
The new lines and reaction aren’t written in the script, but both make it to the final cut.
“When you hire actors,” says Hastings, “the banter between them is something that you can’t even write … it happens when you’re on set.”
The talented cast “made it wonderful. Better than we all could have imagined,” says Thomas. “They’ve really brought a lot to the table, which I think is cool.”
The devilish details
It’s hysterical and occasionally mind-numbing to watch the cast work. Sometimes they say things that make me laugh out loud. Other times, I want to pull out my hair and run from the room because I’ve seen the blue cloth removed from the shoe box 47 times in a row in 42 different ways – fast, slow, grabbed from the center, grabbed from the side, on and on.
It’s amazing that the repetition doesn’t seem to fluster anyone in the crew. Take after take, they set the room, wipe the conference table and re-apply the actor’s make-up. The blue cloth is whisked away multiple times to steam out all the wrinkles.
Thomas’ formidable resume – she’s directed episodes of “Sex and the City,” “Desperate Housewives” and many other national commercial campaigns – brings a polish and professionalism that comes through in every aspect of the campaign. She’s welcoming but also demanding.
When the camera is rolling, no one makes a sound. During the scene, director Thomas gives acting cues.
“That’s good,” she says, calmly leaning over the table toward the male actor playing the agency executive. “Try pausing after you say the first yes.”
Details, like the pause, create a believable and hyper-real situation, adding to the humor. Strangely, constructing realism is remarkably difficult.
The blue cloth, for example, started out red. They decided to change the color because the blue gives a subtle iconic reference to the Association. Also, the group feared being upstaged by IBM’s next great idea campaign, which features – that’s right – a red cloth.
Once it was the right color, the blue cloth was constructed in three different shapes because no one was sure what shape would look best on camera. The version that appears in the final cut was selected because everyone liked the way it looked when it was pulled from the shoebox.
At one point, five different ties were being considered for EJ to wear. The one that appears was selected because the sheen and color gave an expensive luster to his outfit, furthering the illusion.
The shoe tag that appears in one of the final frames had three different strings to attach it to the shoe – one shiny, one thin and one thick. On the shoebox, Gordon’s actual face appears on the side.
He loved seeing his face on the box. When the shoot was over, Gordon convinced the team to allow him to take the box home as a memento.
The strangest details of all, however, are the easiest to miss.
Labels on the bottled water sitting on the conference table had to be turned inward to avoid inadvertently endorsing a product. A Volvo that was parked in the convenience store parking lot in the trading card spot had to be moved because its symbol was clearly visible.
Another challenge of the trading card PSA was its location. All signage from the windows – including beer, cigarettes and lottery promotions – had to be removed.
But a convenience store wouldn’t seem real without some signage on the windows. So, the offensive ads were replaced by signs reading “NCAA Trading Cards sold here. Collect all 380,000.”
Like the signs, the cards were created to look as realistic as possible, with photos on the front and statistics on the back. They came packaged in Mylar, and a new pack was used for each take.
It’s the realism that makes the difference, says Hastings. “That attention to detail is what helps pull off the message,” he says.
Endless cycle
These details take months of preparation. Planning for the 2009 campaign will begin this spring – just a few weeks after the 2008 spots premiere.
In that first meeting, the NCAA team, including Rinebold and Cryder, will work with the Y&R; representatives to determine the strategy around next year’s campaign. Normally by July or August, the ad concepts have been approved and the search for a director and cast begins.
Filming starts in September or October. After filming, the PSAs are sent to an editing house to be cut down. Rinebold and Cryder offer suggestions on the rough cut, and the final versions are presented around the national office in December.
It’s a seemingly never-ending cycle, but Rinebold knows the work is worth it. “Each spot…has taken on its own personality and I suspect this year will be the same. It’ll be another layer to add to our messaging about who we are as an organization,” she says.
Thomas calls for her final cut at around 5:30 p.m. – more than 12 hours after her day began. The lights go out and the equipment is hauled down the elevator, leaving the lobby dark and empty.
Out the window I can see the L.A. rush hour snaking its way slowly from the city. It has been a long day, and just like the commuters, I’m ready to go home.
The production crew behind the scene of one of the NCAA public service announcements produced in Hollywood. / Photo by Tony Grau, Markey's Audio Visual.