Steven Hurd

A campaign based on one of the most recognizable and parodied phrases on campus was recently awarded the highest honor in an advertising contest.

SDSU’s “Go” commercials, the newest developments from the original “You Can Go Anywhere From Here” slogan, recently received the 2009 Silver Telly Award, the highest honor for the promotional/branding category for the annual awards. Produced by ad agency Lawrence & Schiller, the commercials feature the various academic and athletic options available to prospective students.

Last year, more than 14,000 entries from ad companies, television stations and interactive agencies were submitted from all 50 states and five different continents.

“The quality of the commercials and the high production value are evident by the winning of the Telly award,” said Jenny Crickard, director of university relations at SDSU and liaison with Lawrence & Schiller.

The university and the ad agency have been working together since 2000, when the “You Can Go Anywhere from Here” slogan was created. The partnership created positive results within three years, when SDSU’s enrollment was up by 21.1percent, ad officials said.

“The campaign put SDSU top-of-mind on the list of schools people were considering,” said Mark Glissendorf, vice president of operations and multimedia at Laurence & Schiller said, in a press release.

Adrian Vaselaar, a senior business economics major, believes that SDSU’s award-winning campaign motto is not simply a hollow phrase.

“I think that President Chicoine really shows that the slogan has truth to it. He went places with his degree and then he ended up right back where he started,” Vaselaar said.

The Telly Award traces its origin 30 years back when the organization by the same name decided to honor exceptional local, regional and cable television commercials. Receiving the award can be compared to winning an Oscar or an Emmy for the ad world. SDSU’s “Go Anywhere” campaign has received several Telly, Addy and CASE awards over the past decade.