Three USC water polo players hit a home run with a marketing campaign developed to promote Fox Sports West telecasts of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball.

The student-athletes were the winning group in a trial program called Creative University, developed by the cable channel as a way to give undergraduate students a chance for real-world work experience in marketing and advertising.

“Our corporate marketing team came up with Creative University,” said Steve Simpson, FSN West senior vice president. “It was a way for us to make a stronger connection with the community.”

Simpson approached the Angels with the idea and team executives were supportive. Students were given guidelines for what graphics to include, such as the team logo. Several groups of undergraduates developed campaigns. They created promotional materials and formal presentations that they made to executives from the channel and team who served as judges.

Some students were die-hard baseball fans and others participated because they were interested in marketing. The judges said that the students presented their projects passionately and had a strong understanding of the target audience.

“Some of them weren’t even baseball aware. They came in with what kids know and looked at us as a product,” said John Carpino, senior vice president of marketing for the Angels. “We were all very impressed and that’s a credit to the students.”

The winners were Will Agramonte, Arjan Ligtenberg and Devon Borisoff, USC water polo players who developed a campaign called “We Put You in the Game.”

The concept presents images of the game from the point of view of an athlete. For example, one billboard shows a view of the field through the eyes of a catcher’s mask looking at the pitcher.

The students were then partnered with Urban Legends Entertainment, a West L.A. ad agency that shot footage for the commercial spots at the Angels’ spring training. The students weren’t paid, but gained experience and the credit.

The results of the campaign will be seen across Southern California. There will be two TV commercial spots that will run during the season. The theme will be on 36 billboards, 130 bus-side signs and 900 bus-tail signs.

Simpson said that the inaugural program was launched in Los Angeles and Florida, and will be expanded to other Fox-owned and -operated stations. Locally, Fox Sports West expects to work with USC students on other campaigns in the future.

“Hopefully it will be part of a larger portion of a curriculum that we will work out with the Annenberg School,” Simpson said.

Tecate Light

For this year’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, longtime sponsor Tecate beer wants to highlight its lighter side. The Mexican brewer will emphasize its light brand.

“We believe that Tecate Light works better with the event and consumer at the event,” said Carlos Boughton, Tecate brand director.

Tecate started as sponsor of the race, but has since joined events leading up to the main race Sunday. It will sponsor the Miss Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Pageant on Thursday as well as concerts Friday and Saturday.

When Tecate signed on as a sponsor of the Toyota Grand Prix in 2001, Hispanic fans accounted for 6 percent of all attendees. Eight years later, the Hispanic audience is projected to be 30 percent of the 150,000 fans expected at the race and supporting events.

Graphic Display

When ESPN moved its late-night “Sportscenter” show to L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles from Bristol, Conn., last week, it launched a new look for the broadcast. Network executives hired Troika Design Group in Hollywood to develop graphics to replace the program’s five-year-old designs.

Troika executives spent nearly a year developing the graphics and a three-dimensional “virtual world” that operates them pulling clips, displaying team logos, player stats and the sound effects.

Once finished, Troika had to train hundreds of ESPN employees on how to use the system.

“It’s just very information heavy. Sports broadcasting has so much information and it is all immediate and changing constantly,” said Gilbert Haslam, Troika creative director.

ESPN editors, producers and designers that capture and archive clips at games needed to receive training.

“Technically, the show requires a lot of equipment. It’s like you are doing a feature film in terms of complexity,” said Dan Pappalardo, executive creative director. “Plus, everything is in high definition, which makes it more computer heavy.”

Staff reporter David Nusbaum can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 236.