"Calling All Ducks": How the University of Oregon Builds Belonging Through a 60-Second Ad (Unit 2 Final Draft)

 There's a powerful moment when a college commercial makes you feel like you're home there, never even being on the campus. That's what I experienced when I saw the University of Oregon's "Calling All Ducks" commercial. It stood out among the others I saw in comparison because it never said a word about test scores, rankings, or even buildings. It was about individuals-on a sense of self and community. To me, as a student-athlete heading to college, that meant a great deal. The ad was not selling a university. It was asking you to be a part of a movement.

The University of Oregon produced the ad in 2021 as part of a massive branding initiative on inclusion, identity, and belonging. It is one of their "Ducks Fly Together" campaign ads, encouraging students to think about being members of a community and not alone as academic minds. The ad does not promote a specific program but university life overall. Coming out in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ad addressed a world where students needed connection, meaning, and normalcy again. At the University of Oregon, campus life included working through remote learning transitions, racial justice debates, and returning to in-person sports and classes. Across the country, colleges were not just competing for applications but trust. In addition to higher tuition, mental health worries, and student protest, the ad effectively appealed to unity, determination, and the guarantee of a support network, which is what parents and students needed. As comes out through interviews with the university's marketing staff, the campaign focused on recasting Oregon as not just a destination for education, but as a community you join.

The ad starts gently, reflectively: a voiceover mutters as an Oregon sidewalk is walked by a single Black student. "To all the misfits," says the announcer, "to the dreamers, to the late bloomers… to the Ducks." That line was like poetry spoken. We see glimpses of students from different walks of life: grinning in science labs, speeding on tracks, painting murals, skateboarding, playing in band shells. It's frenzied but intimate. The diversity is not just visual, it's felt. There is joy, exhaustion, determination. Each photo shouts: this is college in action. The only thing that I noticed was a lack of academic bragging. No charts, no "Top 10 in this," no flashy dorm rooms. Instead, it's about the grind, the growth, and the camaraderie. The commercial concludes with the slogan, "You're not just going to college. You're becoming something else." I thought that meant you don’t have to just want to go to college, but college to change yourself. And that commercial made that a possibility.

There are plenty of college commercials available, but few get you to feel anything. When I first saw the University of Oregon's "Calling All Ducks" ad, it did not attempt to sell me figures, dormitories, or cool lecture halls. It spoke to individuals like me—athletes, dreamers, misfits, and late bloomers—people searching not only for a university, but for a place to become. The ad's message wasn't one of the rankings. It was one of identity, belonging, and belongingness. And truthfully, that overshadowed any "Top 10" designation ever could.

Post-COVID, that kind of message hits harder. The pandemic didn’t just disrupt classes—it impacted mental health in ways we’re still unpacking. According to the CDC, more than 60% of young adults experienced anxiety or depression during the height of the pandemic. That stat is scary, but it also explains why so many students today are looking for more than academics—they want connection and support. Inside Higher Ed points out that colleges that make creating a sense of belonging a priority allow students to succeed, especially underrepresented ones. Oregon's ad wasn't just revolutionary—it was healing. It reminded us that college can still be where you find yourself and your people even after decades of self-doubt.