The Western Kentucky University football team fell short of its goals on the field this season, going 6-5 and missing the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs for the first time since the 2000 season. One goal, however, was met: Spectator attendance was up, as much as 50 percent from last year.

How did this happen? Athletic Director Wood Selig credits a new advertising campaign that's more exciting than anything the department has tried in the past. "Most college football TV spots involve a couple of highlight plays under an enthusiastic radio announcer's voice. Then you flip your phone number or Web site on the screen," Selig says. "Probably 95 percent of the industry does that type of ad campaign, and there's nothing wrong with it. You have access to your footage, so it's an easy way to generate excitement.

"But our new ads are completely different," he continues. "They combine music and a professional voice, background noise, people yelling, whistles, and helmets hitting helmets. It's as much audio-driven as it is visually-driven--it's advertising with an edge."

Western Kentucky produced the ads by hiring an outside ad agency, the Liberty Group, to handle all of its football and men's and women's basketball advertising, which Selig calls a leap of faith. "It certainly is a commitment financially speaking," he says. "That was the biggest hurdle we had to overcome. But we believed it would generate a return on investment that would cover the up-front expenditure. We've been very happy with the returns so far."

Along with the average attendance for home football games being up 50 percent from last year, football season-ticket sales went up 15 percent after the ads started showing in the fall. Selig says the same trend has continued during the winter season--both men's and women's basketball season-ticket sales were up at the end of December, with women's sales enjoying a large increase.

Along with creating more exciting ads, the Liberty Group has been able to produce a consistent image for the Western Kentucky athletic department. They handle television, radio, print, and billboard ads, making sure to promote one theme and follow an overall strategy for ad timing and placement.

"Ordinarily, you've got four or five different groups doing their own thing. They may all be promoting the same student-athletes or the same theme, but the look and feel are radically different," Selig says. "You might have your local TV station doing your TV spot, your local radio affiliate doing your radio spot, your promotional director in the department doing a print ad, and a billboard company helping you with a billboard campaign. Now, the look, the sound, and the feel are the same across every advertising medium we use, and that's making a big difference."

The newspaper ads feature the headline, "No, you haven't seen anything like this before. This is Western Kentucky Football." Pictured are Head Coach David Elson and five uniformed players--two of whom were 2005 preseason all-Americans.

The print ads also entice community members to "Experience Hilltopper Football" by listing exciting pregame programs, such as TopperTown interactive games for kids and the TopperWalk parade of players and coaches. The prices for various seating options and dates and opponents of the five home games are also listed.

The television spots follow the same theme, with uniformed players talking about the program's success in quick sound bites. The final words are: "This is Western Kentucky Football ... You in?"

"We filmed the TV spots on the football field until 2:30 in the morning," Selig says. "We probably did six or seven hours of filming 30- and 60-second spots, asking our football players to do some scripted scenes as part of the ads."

Selig says the on- and off-campus communities have been impressed with the professional quality of the campaign. The university's television market extends into the Nashville area, where the NFL's Tennessee Titans are located. When the ads first came on, locals told Selig they thought they were NFL spots for the Titans, but were pleasantly surprised to see it was Western Kentucky.

"I think we've created a sense of urgency for consumers to get involved with our program," Selig says. "It's given us the overall high profile, high class image we had been seeking."