The best part of Super Bowl XL earlier this month was not Bad Bunny’s halftime show (although I liked it). It was none of the multi-million-dollar commercials produced by national advertising firms.
It was definitely not the defensive slog that was Seattle’s 29-13 victory over New England.
For my money, the most enjoyable part of the 2026 Super Bowl was a local commercial that aired in Lexington during the big game that was produced by Winchester’s Eppic Films for the University of Kentucky Federal Credit Union.
Starring in the spot was, of all people, Christian Laettner.
The former Duke men’s basketball star’s famous 1992 NCAA Tournament buzzer-beater gave the Blue Devils a 104-103 overtime victory over Kentucky — and traumatized a generation of UK fans. So if you’ve wondered how and why Laettner ended up in a TV ad that was shot specifically for the Lexington market, it happened like this:
Having the “University of Kentucky Federal Credit Union” as your official name creates some marketplace assumptions.
“With the name of UK Credit Union, a lot of people obviously and naturally think that you’ve got to be associated with UK Credit Union or (with) the University Kentucky to be part of the credit union,” said Andrew Miller, the chief marketing officer for the credit union. “And that’s not the case.”
The focus of the UK Credit Union’s current marketing is to educate potential customers that they do not have to have a direct tie to UK to open accounts. Thus was born UK Credit Union’s advertising tag line, “For All Y’all.”
Ad maker Jason Epperson of Eppic Films says he and his creative team were brainstorming ways to get the point across that the UK Credit Union was open to all. The idea was proposed to draw attention to that by building an ad around someone who would not be welcome to open an account.
“One of my guys (Seth Graham) was like ‘We still hate Laettner,’” Epperson said.
Meanwhile, Miller said marketers at the UK Credit Union had first envisioned using Laettner in an advertisement more than a year ago. “We go back and forth, Eppic and I, (over) who came up with this idea,” he said.
An assist from Cameron Mills
To get Laettner on board, Epperson tried to reach out to the former Duke star via various contacts. Laettner had made a brief appearance in “Sixth Man: Bluesanity” a documentary film on Kentucky fans that Epperson directed in 2013.
When he got nowhere, Epperson contacted a friend, former Kentucky guard Cameron Mills, for help.
“I said, ‘What’s the chances you have Christian Laettner’s phone number?’ And sure enough, (Mills) had it,” Epperson said. “I reached out (to Laettner) and he connected me with his agent. Next thing you know, we’re working out a deal.”
In the commercial, Maria Montgomery, the Kentucky-based television presenter and model, assures a woman in a yoga class, then a photographer and next a country music trio, that they can all open accounts at the UK Federal Credit Union.
The ad then switches to a gymnasium. You see a tall, bearded man shooting a foul-line jumper. He says “at the buzzer” and the ball swishes the nets.
“How about me?” the man says, asking if he too can open an account at the UK Credit Union.
“Christian Laettner?” Montgomery says. “No.”
The other people who had previously appeared in the ad return to also reject the idea of Laettner joining the UK Credit Union.
The commercial ends with the tagline “UK Credit Union. For All Y’all. Except Christian Laettner.”
Shot at Christian Laettner’s high school
Epperson said the sequence with Laettner was filmed last month. At the time, Laettner was visiting his hometown of Buffalo, New York.
So the Kentucky-based film crew traveled north through extreme winter weather. They shot the ad in the gymnasium at the Nichols School, Laettner’s high school alma mater.
“We shot for about an hour. That’s about all it took to shoot it,” Epperson said. “(Laettner) laughed a lot, and it just seemed he really enjoyed (the) experience of being a part of it.”
The ad, which ran only in Lexington, debuted during the Super Bowl, and social media was captivated.
“We had, within the first hour, over 400,000 social media views,” Miller said.
According to USA Today, the cost of running a 30-second national commercial during the 2026 Super Bowl approached $10 million.
Of the cost to run the UK Credit Union’s spot locally during the big game, Miller says “You could put (it) in the $20,000 range. ... It is more expensive than normal TV advertising a little bit, but I think for the number of the eyeballs, the reach that you get, it’s a great value.”
As of now, the commercial has run only in Lexington. After a proposed merger between the UK Federal Credit Union and the Cove Federal Credit Union in Kenton County finalizes April 1, the commercial may run in Northern Kentucky as well.
The amazing sight of Christian Laettner in a commercial for the University of Kentucky Federal Credit Union will pass from the television air waves after April 30.
Overall response to the ad has been “pretty positive,” Miller said. Still, 34 years later, the negative emotions that Kentucky backers associate with “the Laettner shot” have not fully evaporated.
“I knew this would happen, Miller said, “... You’re gonna get a few people like, ‘I can’t believe you compensated (Laettner).’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, but (the ad is) doing exactly what it was designed to do.’”