‣ CASE STUDY

Mississippi State University is one of eight public higher education institutions in the state, all operating under the oversight of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees. As part of the board’s COVID mitigation awareness strategy, the TV Center was asked to serve a lead role in producing a short public service announcement to represent all eight universities. The center’s creative team developed and executed a spot based on Atari’s Pole Position arcade racing game. Using period appropriate music and 8-bit simulated graphics, the center developed a message that resonates with the target audience in an unconventional way, eschewing traditional corporate messaging with a memorable spot that could have been produced in 1987. The spot received Third Place honors in the Public Service Announcement category at the 2021 Mississippi Association of Broadcasters’ Execellence in Broadcasting awards.