The NCAA is continuing its media campaign of "voice of the student-athlete" television spots with four new messages this year. The 30-second spots are well into production and are scheduled to begin airing during selected NCAA fall championships.

The format of the messages is similar to last year's with the exception of one significant piece. The spots will once again feature a unique split-screen approach, with former student-athletes speaking first-person about the integration of athletics and higher education, but the former student-athletes who appear this year will tell their own stories instead of relaying a general theme.

For example, one of the new spots features a softball catcher who is beginning her career in marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation, focusing particularly on endangered sea otters. During the spot, she says there are two sides to her -- the all-star catcher side, which is the tough side, and the soft side that is pursuing a career in sea otter rescue and rehabilitation. "But I find I need both sides to make me the whole person I am today," she says.

The message is delivered by former California Lutheran University catcher Chelsea Barrella, who graduated last May with a bachelor's degree in business administration. Barrella was a first-team all-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection in 2003 for the SCIAC-champion Regals.

Another spot features Peter Conte, a former water polo student-athlete from the University of California, Berkeley, who is beginning his career in cancer protein research. At the beginning of the message, Conte, who helped lead the Bears to a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title and an NCAA runner-up finish in 2002, challenges viewers to name the top five water polo players in the world. Knowing most will be unable to do so, he quips that he didn't start playing water polo to become famous. "The same goes for being a biology major," he says. Then he says how much he enjoys working in protein chemistry, followed by his final challenge to viewers to name the top five protein chemists in the world. The ad ends with the voice-over saying, "There are more than 360,000 NCAA student-athletes, and just about all of us will be going pro in something other than sports."

"One of the key feedback points we learned from the initial set of television messages last year was that people want to know more about the life of the student-athlete," said Dennis Cryder, NCAA senior vice-president for branding, broadcasting and communications. "These are real former student-athletes telling real stories, and there are thousands more like the individuals we spotlight in the television spots. Based on these messages, I think the public is starting to hear, for the first time on a national platform, the true voice of the NCAA student-athlete.

"The personal stories also allow us to bring more focus to the academic side of the NCAA experience. We're able to focus not only on a specific sport, but also on a specific academic pursuit. Through these new television messages we are able to better explain the academic mission of the NCAA in a way that is credible, truthful, and integrated with the athletics experience."

Research conducted by Landor Associates indicates that the public regarded last year's campaign favorably. The study showed that viewers began to better understand the sheer size of the NCAA family and that student-athletes participate in sports other than just football and basketball. The central message that most student-athletes "go pro in something other than sports" also was effective. Respondents in focus groups said they considered the student-athletes to be genuine and speaking from their own experience. They related to the student-athletes, which gave immediate credibility to the television spots.

"These spots are the best way we know to communicate the NCAA's role in the successful integration of athletics and higher education," Cryder said. "We let the student-athletes be themselves and do the talking."

This year's set of spots takes the campaign one step further with the more personal stories. Last year's former student-athletes -- Melody Lomboy, a swimmer from the University of California, Irvine; Josh Black, a shot-putter from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Tyler Murphy, a basketball student-athlete from the University of Southern California; and Alana Collins, a basketball student-athlete from California State University, Northridge -- told a more general story that, while still emphasizing the balance between academics and athletics, is not as personal a story as this year's talent will tell.

As with last year's ads, Young & Rubicam San Francisco was the advertising agency responsible for developing the creative concept for the campaign. Senior Vice-President Paul Hastings said the feedback from last year's ads gave his team what it needed to move in the more personal direction.

"The voice of the student-athlete, and the fact that the television messages integrated athletics and academics into their lives rang true with viewers," Hastings said. "They understood that the student-athlete was at the heart of the NCAA, which was something they often didn't think or hear about. We wanted to make the voice of the student-athlete become even more real and personal."

Hastings said there is no end to the number of compelling stories present in the NCAA family.

"The NCAA, across all divisions, is filled with great individuals with great stories," he said. "They may not necessarily be famous stories, or heroic stories -- just real stories about real students whose lives were made better by their student-athlete experience. Through these television spots, we want to show that they are real people who have dreams and interests that both include and go beyond sports. They are people who understand that the student-athlete experience helped make them the full, well-rounded people they are today."