Winning Super Bowl Commercial for Roswell Park

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s (Roswell Park) Super Bowl commercial is a winner. The video earned top honors with a Hermes Creative Platinum award. The Hermes Creative Awards, presented by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals, recognizes outstanding work in the industry while promoting the philanthropic nature of marketing and communications professionals.

The light-hearted commercial, Team Roswell, is the creation of the Roswell Park Marketing Department and its Creative Services team under the direction of Laurel DiBrog, Vice President of Marketing, Planning, Public Affairs and Customer Management, and produced internally by the staff under the direction of Ben Richey, Director of Creative Services.

The commercial features NFL analyst for CBS Sports Steve Tasker; Roswell Park President/CEO Candace S. Johnson, PhD; Roswell Park Deputy Director Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD; Facility Director of Therapeutic Cell Production Chris Choi, PhD; Radiation Oncologist, Director of Breast and Soft Tissue/Melanoma Radiation Medicine Kilian Salerno, MD; and Department of Head and Neck Surgery physician Vishal Gupta, MD. These faculty members and supporters took a playful approach to the more serious topic of cancer. The message behind the commercial supports Roswell Park’s current message that it takes a team to fight cancer and that cancer patients at Roswell Park do not fight this disease alone. All of this was set among fog machines, confetti and streamers and a group of Roswell Park employees cheering on their favorite team and filmed in slow motion to emphasize the suspense leading up to a great finish.

“The competition is tough among organizations for innovative commercials. Roswell Park had the edge with its inspiring message offering hope and support for cancer survivors, mixed with the right staff involvement to make this not only a fun commercial to create, but one where we drew upon the passion of the team,” says DiBrog. Richey adds, “The Team Roswell commercial was as inspiring to make as it is to watch. The dedicated faculty and staff enthusiastically wore their game faces with the goal to cheer on patients and survivors. We are honored and humbled that our efforts were recognized with a Hermes Creative Award.”

Winners were selected from more than 6,000 entries, grouped in 195 categories under advertising, publications, marketing/branding, integrated marketing, public relations/communications, electronic media and pro bono.

The commercial and a video about the making of Team Roswell are available online.