University of Phoenix highlights, in its latest ad, that, when the higher-education system was failing working adults in pursuit of a degree, its founder, John Sperling, changed the system and built University of Phoenix.
The spot, set in Phoenix, Arizona, 1978, follows a woman who has a lot of work to do at the office and doesn’t get in time at her final exam at the university, where teachers do not allow her to enter once the class is started. Fortunately, she sees a poster heralding “Degrees designed for working adults”, which allows her to continue her studies and keep working, as well.
“Universities weren’t built for working adults. Until John Sperling built one.” onscreen lines read at the end of the commercial, which also sees a teacher standing in front of a small class, with the message “Welcome to University of Phoenix” written on the blackboard.
The soundtrack music is a cover of the 1998 song “You Get What You Give” by the American alternative rock band New Radicals, from their only studio album, “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too,” released in 1998.
“When Dr. John Sperling founded University of Phoenix, he was intent on pioneering a model of education that was built especially for working adult students,” said Peter Cohen, president of University of Phoenix, in a press release earlier this week. “He recognized that these students were eager to learn and develop themselves professionally, but that the academic landscape was not geared toward providing them opportunities to do so. He set out to change that, and in the process, he gave the University a mission that is even more relevant today than it was all those years ago”.
The University is also debuting a new marketing campaign called “Change the System”, aimed at inspiring students and highlighting Dr. Sperling’s determination to deliver an education that worked for the working.
