How OSU Wexner Used In-House Talent to Create a Winning Super Bowl Ad

// By Althea Fung //

When pandemic restrictions on vendors meant an outside media team couldn’t come on campus, The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center tapped the talents of its own in-house team to produce a high-profile TV spot — and that was just the beginning.

For most, Super Bowl 2021 was a throwdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Tampa’s home turf. But for the marketing team at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in central Ohio, gameday was an opportunity to highlight the talents of the medical center and advocate for COVID-19 vaccination.

“It felt natural for us to do a 30-second public service spot aimed at promoting vaccine awareness to counteract some of the negativity around vaccines,” says Skip Hidlay, chief communications and marketing officer at The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center.

Ohio State produced two TV spots promoting vaccine safety that aired in the central Ohio region during the Super Bowl, March Madness, and Ohio State sporting events. While outside production companies made many of the multi-million-dollar ads that played during these events, the Ohio State commercials were produced by the in-house video team.

For many marketing teams, high-profile creative projects like commercials are produced with the help of advertising partners. Although Ohio State has an ad agency of record, pandemic restrictions on vendors meant an outside media team couldn’t come on campus.

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