Card offices are responsible for providing some of the most valuable services that a campus community enjoys, and unfortunately they often do so in relative anonymity. Card services deserve some time in the limelight, and at the very least, should be better advertised to the campus community.

The University of Alabama’s Action Card program has done just that with a series of videos, produced internally, that are designed to market the services that the ID card provides. The video series covers the full range of services, addressing practical how-to’s for Bama Cash deposit and use to entertaining videos detailing online photo submission, athletic ticketing and a general advertisement for the Action Card’s uses viewed through the eyes of an explorer on safari — complete with pith helmet and magnifying glass.

The Action Card Office recently updated its social media and communications strategy to boost student outreach. As part of that effort, they created this set of videos using campus resources and promoted them to students via social media.

The “Football Tickets” and “Explorer” videos won Gold and Silver ADDY awards respectively at the Tuscaloosa chapter of the American Advertising Federation Awards. The videos were submitted in the “Branded Content and Entertainment for Online Video” category.

The Action Card videos swept the category, which was open to other verticals beyond higher ed. Submissions were judged by advertising executives from Boston, Philadelphia and Virginia.

Alabama’s campus card video series shows that with a little willingness to intertwine entertainment value with informative content a campus can put a refreshing spin on valuable student-facing information.