The University of Oklahoma entered a new era on July 1st, 2024 as the University joined the Southeastern Conference, widely considered one the premier conferences in all of collegiate athletics. A rare occurrence, the University had not changed conference affiliations since 1996, and it was the first time in the program’s 125 year history that they would be affiliated with the southeastern region of the United States.
The in-house creative team at the University of Oklahoma (OU) athletics department was tasked with developing a piece of content that would debut on July 1st, 2024, the first day that the University was officially a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The project needed to boastfully showcase the rich tradition of Oklahoma, the grand history of their peer SEC institutions, and the common thread of excellence that makes for the perfect partnership within the Southeastern Conference.
It would be a seminal moment for the University.
We knew we had one chance to do something special.
We had one opportunity to do something that nobody else could do.
The result was an ambitious project that included thousands of miles of travel, live animals and a famous Hollywood alumnus.
It was time to hitch up our wagon, and head southeast...
Going back to Oklahoma’s roots, the University was founded in 1890 before Oklahoma entered statehood. The school's nickname, "Sooners", is a reference to the settlers of the time. And the school's mascot, two white ponies named "Boomer" & "Sooneer", pull a covered wagon called the "Sooner Schooner", similar to wagons used by the early pioneers. This famous Sooner Schooner entourage has become synonymous with the University, famously racing across the football field after each OU score.
Harkening to this imagery, and the rich pioneering history, became the focal point of the project.
We would hitch up the wagon, and take the Sooner Schooner on a tour across the Southeastern Conference.
Along the way, we would visit each town in the SEC, engaging with the local community and capturing content that would play a critical part in the final production.
Among the key challenges were the logistics of traveling the school’s ponies, wagon, caretakers, wagon drivers, spirit squad, videographers and others across the country while working with local horse farms, campus officials, permits, location scouts and scheduling around campus activities.
Preparation for the project began in 2023 with departments across Oklahoma Athletics including Marketing, Spirit & Mascots, Sponsorships, Videography, Photography and Graphic Design along with consulting veterinarians.
Embarking on March 8, 2024, the degree of the undertaking was equal to the moment. The enormity of the preparation and investment is seen plainly in the final tallies.
The weather aligned and the wagon rolled onward over century-old campuses. This blend of imagery, folding the famous vision of the Sooner Schooner into these new landscapes, drew crowds from passersby and generated organic interaction weeks before the launch of the official video.
The ponies and spirit squad posed for countless pictures, and the Schooner rolled back into Norman, Oklahoma on March 27, 2024.
Identifying the “face” of the video was also a critical decision, as the creative team was intentional in avoiding individuals that are associated with just one sport at the University. To find the key star to bring it all together, the team looked to the silver screen, identifying Hollywood icon and 1970’s alum of the University of Oklahoma, Ed Harris.
In June, the video team traveled to Los Angeles, California where they recorded all on-camera and voiceover elements with Mr. Harris. Combining that footage along with the addition of sound design from elements captured at the ponies’ home farm, and with archival footage of the team competing against SEC opponents from years past, producers had all of the elements needed to assemble the final composition.
After months of planning, weeks of filming and editing, the project was complete.
All that was left was for the sun to rise over SEC-country in Oklahoma on that historic morning of July 1st, with a chance to show the world that, “There’s only one, Oklahoma!”
The “SEC Schooner Tour” video was posted on the morning of July 1st, 2024 across Oklahoma’s main accounts on Instagram, Facebook and X as well as from the Football and Athletic Director accounts with the combined results of:
While on the road throughout the filming of the tour, there were 5 still-image posts on Instagram & Facebook along with 6 posts on X that amounted in the combined results of:
All told, combining photo posts, teasers and the final campgain video, the project had the total results of:
The University and the creative team could not have been more thrilled with the reception of the project and the way that it unified disperate fanbases. Reviewing social feeds, the majority of commentary demonstrated that all fanbases, including Oklahoma's and the peer schools in the SEC, reacted positively to the way their respective school's were portrayed in the project.
Creating a project that unifies 16 schools across 12 states is a narrow path. But the project proved that the path is wide enough for our Schooner to travel, and one that will carry us into new frontiers.
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The media shared below offers a glimpse of the tour's process as well as the final video.
