Kauffman Super Bowl Commercial Asks Entrepreneurs, "Will It Be You?"

WRITTEN BY ALLISON WAY, SENIOR COPYWRITER & CHIEF EDITOR

In 1967, a 30-second commercial spot cost approximately $42,000 during the Super Bowl.  In 2012, it costs about $3.5 million.

And although the costs seem outrageous, large companies still fork over millions and millions of dollars on Super Bowl advertisements.  But who can blame them?  Half of the country tunes into the Super Bowl just for the commercials alone.  They're attention-grabbers.  They're entertaining.  They're memorable.  Who could ever forget the Bud-Wei-Ser frog commercial?  Or the young Darth Vader commercial for Volkswagon?

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is hoping to make the same memorable impression on viewers on this year's Super Bowl Sunday by launching its first-ever public service announcement aimed at sparking the interest of potential entrepreneurs.

The Kauffman PSA boldly asks the question that many entrepreneurs face every day: Will it be you?

The Kauffman Super Bowl ad, which was leaked online yesterday, guides interested entrepreneurs to Kauffman's newest site, willitbeyou.com, where it displays information for startups about inspiration, networking, creation, mentoring and capital raising.  The website features popular resources provided by Kauffman including iStart (utilized in Kansas City's Gigabit Challenge business plan competition), Startup Weekend, Global Entrepreneurship Week, Startup America, UEP, Maker Faire, PIPELINE and many others.

"As jobs and the economy take center stage this election year, the Kauffman Foundation wants both policymakers and the public to be aware of the importance of entrepreneurs to solving our economic crisis," said Wendy Guillies, Kauffman's vice president of communications, in a recent press release.  "The most-watched television event of the year is the ideal opportunity for Kauffman to inspire entrepreneurs and, in the spirit of Super Bowl advertising, to do so in a fun and accessible manner."

The Kauffman PSA validates the growing movement of entrepreneurship not only in Kansas City, but in hundreds of cities across the nation.  Entrepreneurship is growing to a level that is so big that it needs to market in tandem with the most-watched event on television, the Super Bowl.  This notion reinforces the fact that entrepreneurship is not just important, it's essential; essential for job creation, essential for a recovering economy, essential for overall growth.

The willitbeyou.com commercial from Kauffman will air on Super Bowl Sunday (January 5, 2012) in some of the nation's largest television markets including New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and of course, in Kauffman's own home of Kansas City.

The Kauffman Super Bowl commercial, which takes the form of Kauffman's popular "Sketchbook" theme, proudly states that the next great entrepreneur is out there...and it could be anybody.  Will it be you?

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