The ACC Builds Around Bobbleheads for College Football Kickoff
As the ACC kicks off Week 1 of its football season with 16 games in five days, it plans to roll out these ads on linear television, digital, and social media—with school-specific assets for each of its markets that will debut throughout the year. Dan Rozier, ECD at Wasserman, noted that with 18 different characters involved, it was necessary to collaborate with the various ACC schools just to make sure each had the right share of voice and was satisfied with each mascot’s tone and demeanor.
As the ACC looks to define itself for a new generation of fans, its team of creative partners and schools have found their voice in wobbly resin and ceramic.
“The good thing about bobbleheads is that it was a little bit of a cheat code in that they are so expressive just by nature, and their faces are very distinct,” Rozier said. “What’s nice is that you look at the Syracuse [Otto the] Orange, and you’re like, ‘I know how this guy talks,’ and you look at the Duke Blue Devil, and you’re like, ‘I can hear the voice of this man.’”
On the clock
Nunez and his team initially pitched the idea behind the bobbleheads roughly 24 months ago, at the very beginning of the “ACCOMPLISH GREATNESS” campaign. Since that time, Wasserman has attended the ACC’s winter and spring meetings and presented the idea to the athletic directors of all 18 ACC schools, with Nunez and his colleagues standing in front of a screen listening to questions and concerns.
After decades of various conference game day ads featuring football highlights laced into scenes of students in university labs staring intently at beakers, everyone involved knew the ACC needed more.
“If we want to be looked at differently, then we need to start acting, talking, and moving differently,” Nunez said.
But college sports are riddled with complications. Last year’s addition of three new schools brought three new voices into the conversation. The ACC’s existing members, meanwhile, come with their own unique sets of circumstances. While Notre Dame played in football’s national championship game last year, it can’t be featured in football-related ACC spots because it aligns with the conference in all sports but football, where it is an independent.
