The Story…

At UC Santa Barbara, I was a part of a campus club called Real Life. We were a tight-knit community that held lots of events throughout the year, the most spectacular event of them being Battle of the Ages, a month long competition for glory and honor between all four classes.

In 2006, my class made Battle of the Ages (BOTA) history when we became the first freshman class to ever win the competition. At the award ceremonies that June, we started a chant, or rather, a prophecy for our class, “All Four Years”.

Fast forward 4 years. It is our senior year, BOTA time. We had won 3 years in a row and we needed a win this 4th year. We hadn´t worked 3 years for nothing. We we graduating seniors, and we had to go out with a bang.

BOTA consists of various challenges that the classes participate in. One is a week long game, another Sport´s Day, and the last, a video project. Our class had always been least competitive in the video project, so we primarily relied on our performance in the other events to boost our score.

But my senior year, we were up against some serious contenders, and we needed to make sure we won the video competition to assure all four years of victory. Tension was running high, people were stressed with schoolwork, and fresh out of ideas.

The Job…

One of my friends dutifully took on the video project because she knew it had to be done. She was overwhelmed with the work, and I offered to help her. As we sat down to brainstorm, it became clear that we wanted different things. She wanted to do a serious, sentimental piece as a way to say goodbye to Real Life and thank them for such a amazing four years. I thought otherwise.

I knew that Real Life wanted to have fun. While it is true that we are often sentimental, when it came to the BOTA videos, it was all about entertainment and F-U-N. I was afraid that with a completely serious video, we wouldn´t be able to win in that category.

It was a hard conversation to have. She was the leader here, the video was her baby. Who was I to walk in and tell her how to run the show? I told her that the message was a great one, but could be more entertaining if we put a celebratory tone behind it, instead of a somber one.

The Idea…

Impromptu dance scenes had become big in mainstream entertainment. In movies like Napoleon Dynamite, Slumdog Millionaire, and 500 Days of Summer, audiences were surprised, perplexed, but mostly lovestruck with these dance scenes, as evidenced by the countless youtube covers. Inspired by this new movement in entertainment, we decided to incorporate an impromtu dance sequence at the end of our video. We knew it would come as a surprise that would thrill the audience and still be able to reflect our sentiments.

Today I am happy to say we won the video competition. The judges loved the video for its group-centered focus and sentimental message, and the audience jumped to their feet to sing and dance along with our final dance scene. It was a total success, and we were crowned the winners of BOTA. All four years had become a reality.

What I Learned…

What I learned from this experience is that, when creating a campaign, it is important for the integrity of the brand to accurately communicate it´s own message but never at the expense of the audience’s needs and desires. Another thing I learned is that compromise is vitally important to the success of the campaign when working in a team. Lastly, I experienced that paying attention to trending topics can provide inspired ideas that the audience will relate to and respond to.

And now for your viewing pleasure, the winning 2010 BOTA senior class video:

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4FEFovwQu8″%5D

Photo credit: Real Life facebook group