The Philadelphia Eagles not only made the Super Bowl, but they also dominated the first half of the game, much to the delight of their fans in South Jersey and Philadelphia — and anyone who happened to buy a halftime ad during the game.
Count Cooper University Health Care in that group.
The hospital, which recently broke ground on its $3 billion ‘Project Imagine’ expansion, told the region about the effort during an ad that ran just after the Eagles took a 24-0 lead into the locker room.
To be clear, the ad ran during one of the limited spots during the game in which ads are sold to local markets around the country — rather than national sales, which are the great majority of the ads throughout the game.
National ads were going for $7 million. Local spots were going for far less — mainly because the large number of markets allows for the league to reach the same total for the 30 seconds. The Cooper ad ran only in the Philadelphia market, meaning it would not have been seen in North Jersey, which is in the New York City TV market.
Cooper spokesperson Wendy Marano explained how the ad came about.
“Cooper was presented with a unique opportunity to buy a discounted local, Philadelphia market ad during the game,” she said.
“Given the millions of residents who will be watching the game in our region, we decided to eliminate other advertising in favor of this opportunity to highlight all that Cooper University Health Care and the MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper do to serve our communities.”
The ad featured TV personality and self-proclaimed South Jersey girl Kelly Ripa, combining clips of her appearance at the Project Imagine ground-breaking with images and thoughts on Cooper.
Marano said Cooper was pleased with the ad – and of the Eagles’ effort throughout the entire game.
The team dominated the Chiefs in the second half as well, rolling to a 40-22 victory.
