The ad campaign for the Univ. of MN's (UM) women's
athletics "received the state's top advertising honor"
earlier this month, as it was named "Best of Show" by the
Advertising Federation of MN, according to Pam Schmid of the
Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. The campaign, which uses the tag,
"It's all fun and games until you don't show up," is a "far
cry from the staid, serious image" once "cultivated" by the
school's women's athletic teams. All six of the campaign's
ads feature local actor Jeff Hopkins, "who ambushes people
on the street, asks them to identify" photos of UM women
athletes -- which "nobody can" -- and then "threatens to
sick the athletes on them in various, goofy ways if they
don't show up at a game." UM Women's AD Chris Voelz: "We're
always so politically correct that it doesn't always make
for exciting, humorous, laugh-at-yourself stuff. We wanted
to cause some conversations." In one spot, a mall
pedestrian is "kicked repeatedly" by a passerby while
Hopkins states, "Sir, if you don't start going to the
[soccer] games, there's going to be a lot more of that."
The athletic department paid "about $20,000 to cover
production costs and plans to air" the ads for the next two-
and-a-half to three years (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 10/26).
