Lancaster’s Fulton Theatre will be featured during Super Bowl

Marc Robin knows all about show business. 

In his 20-plus years in the theatre, the executive artistic producer of Lancaster‘s Fulton Theatre has staged more than 450 productions, including shows in New York, California, Chicago, and London. 

Sunday, Robin will be part of the biggest show in the country – the Super Bowl. Robin will be featured when the Fulton Theatre is part of Google‘s “50 Stories, 50 States” campaign, highlighting the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on small businesses. Google’s campaign features 50 customer stories from each of the 50 states. 

“Google had sort of reached out to people across the country who used their products,” said Robin. “Colin (Riebel), who runs our IT Department here, saw it and said, ‘Hey, Google’s doing this thing. Should we enter!’ I said, ‘Sure. Why not?’ You know, off-handedly. 

“This was like six months ago. The next thing I know, he comes to me about six weeks later and he’s like, ‘Hey, remember that thing? Well, they kind of think we may be a good fit for it. They want us to get to Round Two.’ Then it was Round Three, and then Round Four.” 

Google then followed by asking which person at the Fulton they should focus on. 

“Colin, again unbeknownst to me, sent them a bunch of videotapes of me during the pandemic, when we were closed, and I was constantly trying to reach out through social media to our audiences to say this is what’s happening in the arts,” said Robin. “So, they got the opportunity to see me on the medium already, and they were like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it. Let’s pick you guys.’” 

The Fulton Theatre is the only small business from Pennsylvania being featured. Google connected with organizations and companies across a variety of industries who have used Google Workspace to introduce them to Gemini and the ways Google AI can help them improve. 

“There’s no other theatre in the 50 states that they chose,” said Robin. “So, it really is a different voice in the way this is used, and it was also a fun thing for them to choose a theater. And for them to choose our theater, I still can’t believe it. 

“In the conversations I had with them, they really wanted to find an organization in each state that they got excited about. Whether it was theatre, industry or banking, now that it’s all done, there’s an opera company and I think a ballet company, and us are the three artistic representations of the 50 (states).” 

The Fulton Theatre ad will go live in Lancaster, Harrisburg, and York on WPMT Fox 43 during the Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. 

“When we went into this, the Super Bowl and the ad part had nothing to with it,” said Robin. “There were no conversations about that. It was just, ‘We want to be part of a marketing launch for this new product.’ They wanted to do it based on humans telling their own stories and how their lives can be improved by this product and do the things that they’re passionate about. That’s sort of the unifying theme.” 

Robin said it wasn’t until late in the process that Google started talking about a Super Bowl commercial. 

“They had about 10 hours of footage,” he said, “and then somebody, somewhere high up in the organization said, ‘We think this might be the best use to launch it during the Super Bowl in each state.’ And then they said, ‘By the way, how would you feel about this?’ 

“We were like, ‘Yeah, right.’ And now it’s happening. As far as this launch goes, the only thing for Google in the state of PA is us.” 

The Fulton Theatre’s connection with Google focuses on their using Google Gemini and Google Docs to aid with fundraising for their events. In the ad, Robin states that using Gemini and Google Docs has been a game-changer, taking 50% of the work off them. 

“For the radius of folks who usually attend downtown Lancaster events, they will see it, providing they’re watching ‘regular TV’ and not streaming,” said Robin. “They had said, ‘We’re going to launch this on the day of the Super Bowl but there’s no guarantee your spot will be during the game itself.’ 

“We’re like, ‘Great! No problem.’ Until last Friday, when they said, ‘We’ve looked at all these things and we’re going to put yours on during the game. I was like, ‘That’s the coolest thing.” If my parents were alive, they’d be so proud.” 

Google’s ads are aimed at highlighting small businesses and their use of AI. In the U.S., 33 million businesses are small businesses, and small businesses like the Fulton Theatre are using AI to help their business grow. 

“We are unbelievably honored, humbled,” said Robin. “For me personally, the fact that they kind of followed me around for two days and it’s my voice on the ad, when they sent it to me, it was really humbling. It’s really exciting because I’m hoping it throws the focus on the arts and people go, ‘Wow! Arts really do matter.’”