Advertising Students Produce Longhorn Network Commercials, First Set To Air Tonight

A new Longhorn Network commercial set to debut tonight "kicks off a new ‘Watch what you love’ marketing campaign," according to Gary Dinges of the AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN. The ad was produced by Univ. of Texas advertising students, and is "the culmination of months of work inside and outside the classroom." LHN, a joint venture between UT and ESPN, airs in more than 4 million homes nationwide. The first commercial in the new campaign “features a father and his young daughter.” In the spot, the father “finishes her bedtime story -- a retelling of UT's 2006 Rose Bowl win, which secured a national championship -- but she's eager to hear it again.” And after “a brief staredown, the girl gets her wish.” Other ads “are set to follow, with a second one debuting a week from today” (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 6/18). LHN Associate Dir of Marketing Jill Husak said the students were given “a tour of LHN facilities and briefed about our goals for the campaign. It was great to hear six different creative pitches, rather than the typical account-management structure from an agency.” “Little Longhorn,” with a father telling his young daughter a bedtime story about Vince Young leading the team to a football national title over USC in 2006, is first out of the chute. “Homesick” features a young man working in New York at night who gains comfort by obscuring his office view of the Empire State Building with a photo of the landmark oncampus University of Texas Tower (MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 6/18).