The Paper Journey

Making the new Wake Forest University 30-second TV commercial started with cutting nearly 3,000 pieces of paper into campus landmarks, trees and people. Every element was designed, engineered, and assembled by hand.

The commercial is scheduled to air for the first time during the Sept. 3 Wake Forest football game and will continue to air throughout the season.

Building a Wake Forest world out of paper and then filming it had a purpose: highlighting Wake Forest’s commitment to developing leaders of character and integrity.

“At Wake Forest, character formation is an area of intense academic study and gets incorporated into curricular and co-curricular activities,” said Vice President for University Marketing and Communications Brett Eaton. “I love that this commercial highlights the University's leadership of a national character development movement in a creative and thoughtful way. It also speaks to the student journey and the community of care that makes it meaningful.”

A website (wake.wfu.edu/commercial) with a behind-the-scenes documentary tells the full story of the idea, the process of making it and the people involved.