The Brief
This school year, one university’s Homecoming tradition was met with another all-time classic—peanut butter and jelly.
Temple University, a top-ranked research university in the “city of brotherly love,” saw Homecoming as an opportunity to unite its on-campus community with members of the greater Philadelphia area.
The Main Campus Program Board, a student-run organization that plans Temple’s premiere on-campus events, partnered with Guinness World Records™ to bond students, faculty, alumni and local community volunteers in a record-breaking donation experience.
The Solution
The Record: On September 19, 2016, students, faculty, alumni and local volunteers partnered to assemble a record-breaking 49,100 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
The Adjudicator: A Guinness World Records adjudicator was on-site to officially count 93.5 boxes of sandwiches and declare Temple University the record holder for the Most sandwiches made in one hour.
Event Day Amplification: To ensure maximum participation, Temple’s Program Board leveraged the universally-recognized Guinness World Records name across its website, social media channels, and campus before the event. With hands-on participation from over 1,300 volunteers and sandwiches donated to more than 15 local food banks, Temple’s Program Board succeeded in engaging both its campus and the local community
Post Attempt Engagement: Event photos and video footage fueled social media engagement, driving over 33,000 video views on Facebook alone, nearly tripling Temple’s average Facebook video view count for 2016. Major local and regional press outlets eagerly took to their platforms as well, resulting in over 9.8 million impressions.
Temple University turned record-breaking into a Homecoming tradition in 2017 after breaking their second Guinness World Records title for the largest sock drive in 8 hours.
This is a great opportunity to bring the local community together with students, faculty, staff and alumni for a common cause, to build sandwiches for those in need.
