(Estherville)– If you were watching the bowl games New Years Day, chances are you saw a commercial for Duracell rechargeable batteries that featured a couple of students enrolled in Iowa Lakes Community College’s Wind Energy and Turbine Technology program.
College officials say it all started last summer when Al Zeitz, who was director of the program at the time, was contacted by a creative consulting company. That led to a meeting with a Duracell company representative, followed by the development of a script and setting of dates to record the commercial.
A casting call followed, along with a second meeting with the top candidates that were being considered for the commercial. On September 23rd and 24th, 2009, more than two dozen crew members, camera operators, hair stylists and costume/wardrobe designers descended on the area as they began to film the 30-second ad.
The ad featured Adam Literski of Arcadia, Wisconsin, a second-year student who plans to transfer to the University of Iowa’s Engineering Program; and Greg Frates of Brule, Nebraska, a first-year student who worked previously in a coal mine and served in the military. Literski is seen in the commercial with Zeitz on the top of a turbine as well as using the Duracell rechargeable battery in testing equipment; Frates is featured climbing to the top of the turbine.
Both men got to keep a souvenir: the hard hats and coveralls which they wore during the recording of the commercial.
While images of the students at the wind turbine were all taped in Estherville at the college’s wind turbine, the other scenes were taped in southwest Minnesota.
