The Gator Nation celebrates it’s 21st Birthday

Twenty-one years ago this weekend we launched the famed “Go Gators” television commercial which revolutionize college marketing and introduced the Gator Nation to the world.

The campaign itself – The University of Florida, The Foundation for The Gator Nation – started two weeks earlier when two ads appeared in the UF vs. Wyoming football program because the TV spot was in final production. It was supposed to run during the second game of the season, but an error by CBS resulted in it being pushed back a week to the Florida vs. Tennessee game (a 16-7 win for the Gators.) The network also allowed us to expand the spot to a full 60 seconds. Our agency, Fletcher Martin of Atlanta, was able to take the 30 second spot and expand it in record time.

The television spot captured what it meant to be a Florida Gator and it generated more excitement than any college program had ever generated before. And it bring Gators around the world to celebrate The University of Florida.

• Go Gators X 4
• Got Start a Fortune 500 Company
• Go Write the Great American Novel
• Go Cure Cancer
• Go to Mars
• Go Gators!

The new spot aired on all Gator football games and we bought time on the local news in all major Florida cities. We wanted everyone in the state to know The University of Florida is in Gainesville. The Gator Nation is Everywhere.

We asked our legal department if we could copyright the phrase, The Gator Nation, but were told it would be too generic. As a result, we lost the ability to protect The Nation concept. In only a few years universities and entities around the country were calling themselves The xyz Nation. My favorite was The Dale Junior Nation which Dale Earnhart Junior started using to promote his NASCAR efforts.

In addition to the television spot, we rolled out a whole string of amazing magazine and newspaper ads. I’ll post some of them on this blog later. And possibly my favorite initiative suggested by Fletcher Martin was to create a short video describing one students journey from high school to the University of Florida.

After lots of discussion, we decided to create a “The Making of The Gator Nation” movie-style video. It won awards around the world as did the campaign. I’ll also post that video on this blog in the future.

The University used The Gator Nation theme for almost 20 years before moving on to something different. Different, yes, but IMHO not better.

I’ve done some good work during my career, but the University of Florida, The. Foundation for The Gator Nation remains one of the most long lasting efforts I’ve ever been involved with. And I’ve worked for some great ones. Harley-Davidson, Sea-Doo, Segway, Enterprise Florida. The list goes on.

Good marketing is nothing more than connecting the dots to tell a story that resonates with people. The Gator Nation did just that.

Go Gators! Go Change the World.