We live in a hockey town here in Houghton, and we wanted to share that part of our culture and community through the experience of one of our star hockey players, Kyle Kukkonen. Kyle hails from the city of Maple Grove, a hockey hub in its own right, and in our interview with him, he explained how Houghton and Maple Grove share a lot of similarities in their passionate hockey culture and strong local support for their teams. The goal of this commercial was to connect with up-and-coming hockey players and other students in Maple Grove by hearing directly from one of their own--a player who found his dream school and team at Michigan Tech. Building a narrative from Kyle’s own words, we then developed a storyboard that took us into the mindset of a top-performing athlete, carrying the experiences of his career into each game, visualizing the plays as he prepares to take the ice. While the visual tone of the piece is rather stoic and technical, this spot is really a love letter to the fans and the families that fuel the drive of our top-tier athletes. The results have been wonderful. We aired the spot in Minnesota during their state high school hockey tournament, and the response we saw online was immediate and significant, showing us that this spot resonated with fans and captured the passion that players and communities have for the sport.
From the Judges
This commercial is a great example of authentic storytelling to convey an overarching message from the institution. Nice use of visuals and the athlete's voice, and the filming on the ice was well done.
