Oakland University has gone from “ordinary” to “extraordinary” thanks to its newest ad campaign, and students are taking notice.

You may have seen the commercial on television or while listening to your favorite Pandora station: students smile as the motivational acoustic music in the background swells, advertising just what OU has to offer, complete with a gleeful woman dramatically tossing fall leaves into the air.

Senior Ethan Scott acted in the $85,000 project as one of the smiling students and said he was surprised at just how many people had seen the ad.

 “I’ve had a lot of OU students, high school people, as well as old teachers and professors message me to say ‘Hey, saw you on TV,’” Scott said. “[The commercial] does a great job of putting our name in a more positive light.”

According to university Associate Vice President of Communications and Marketing John O. Young, the commercial has been doing its job. “Applications are up for freshmen so that is a key indicator of success,” he said. “[OU’s] social media sites and web traffic on the admissions pages has also increased.”

The change is perhaps in part due to the new effort towards collaboration between students and Radish Creative, a “local firm that has done creative work for OU for over several years,” according to Young.

“Dialogue with many student focus groups over the spring and summer are shaping the creative strategy and brand development for OU,” he said. “The commercial is powerful and memorable due to the music being upbeat and reflective of the energy and creativity of the OU student.”  

Freshman communication major Adam Nofs originally chose Oakland because it was “convenient and close to home” but was also impressed with the advertising he saw on the internet and television.

“It makes OU look like a pretty gnarly place to be,” Nofs said of the newest ad. “Whenever I see this commercial on TV I feel like our school’s practically famous.”

Ethan Scott said that he was especially in favor of the newest slogan change to “Prepare for the Extraordinary.”

“I think it’s a really cool transition from ‘Reach Beyond the Ordinary,’” he said. “People were misconstruing our message before and I think this is a really good transition to the new message. It’s definitely a step in the right direction for OU.”

[Sidebar] (pictures are just inserted for identification purposes)

What do you think of OU’s newest commercial?

Adam Nofs, freshman, communication: “The music makes me want to run a marathon up Mount Everest.”

Donovan Whitehead,  sophomore, biochemistry: “I think it will be effective in new student recruitment. It shows a lot of the different factors that relate to the school, and shows a positive image of campus.”

Darcie Lochinski, senior, communication:  “I really like it. I think it’s inspiring but not too pushy, so potential students will be excited to enroll.”