Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Grand Rapids Lip Dub Sparks Some Questions

http://griid.org/2011/05/28/rob-bliss%E2%80%99s-lip-dub-sparks-some-questions/

We can all agree that Rob Bliss's Lip Dub of Grand Rapids is a huge hit and truly mind-boggling. Here are some facts about the cost of the video, its product placement, and its representation of Grand Rapids citizens.

The video certainly advertised Grand Rapids to the population, but after reading the article, do you think that the money could have been better spent elsewhere?

15 comments:

  1. The money was well spent in that it met its goal of showing GR as a thriving city. If the video was half the length, I think it would have been more impactful. A shorter video would have cost a bit less, and the remaining funds could go to the food bank.

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  2. I agree with the comments more than the article, especially the post by Jeffrey and its replies.

    The project was privately funded, and Rob Bliss has done a lot of things in GR that will not have nearly as much of an impact as this. What about the money those waste? Examples of them include a massive zombie walk (the largest gathering of zombies), another pillow fight, and a water slide. The lip dub is by far the coolest and sheds a little much-needed positive light on GR.

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  3. I agree with Laura, the video was really cool but they could have shortened it to save money, but I think it definitely made me think twice about the city of Grand Rapids.

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  4. I like the video in all honestly, but am going to agree with Laura and Maureen. THe video was great and definitely improved the image of the city in my opinion, but in means to keep the video financially sound I would of cut about half of it.

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  5. The video is great. Why would this author get worked up about funds that would most likely have never been given to these charities? If more poeple were willing to come together for bonding activities like these maybe the social bonds would bring more political support for these other programs. Its weird when people see something good and say, eh, not good enough.

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  6. In addition to Laura and others, Zach makes a great point. Building/strengthening community is as important as attracting new people to a community, in my opinion. Today on NPR someone described a successful sports team as "prozac" for a depressed city. I don't see why this wouldn't provide the same benefit.

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  7. I think the video was great. It got people living in Grand Rapids working together and united against those who believe the city is dying. In order to get change the people of a city or community need to work together.

    This reminds me of the Super Bowl Chrysler commercial- Imported from Detroit. While we complain about the negativity surrounding the city of Detroit (as happened to Grand Rapids when called a dying city), when a positive advertisement comes out we bash it. The Imported from Detroit commercial and Grand Rapids LipDub video are trying to showcase the best parts of each city. If the absolute worst parts of each city were shown on a national campaign would it help the cities image or bring people there? The answer is no and people would have been more upset about the negativity each video brought to the cities. Besides by people of Michigan bashing these videos it only makes us look worse. This is a lose-lose situation.

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  8. Yesterday the video was featured in an article on Yahoo's front page. The video is generating so much buzz I dont think the money could have been spent in a better way.

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  9. I thought the video was cool, but I'm just not sure what it actually accomplished for the amount of money that was spent. Sure, it drew attention to Grand Rapids and maybe changed some people's minds about the city, but I don't think it was the most effective use of that money.

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  10. I think its hard to come up with a way that amount of money could have been spent to better draw attention to the issues in Grand Rapids. There's lots of money out there between businesses and private citizen's that is wasted and not given every day- why pick out an example of a great PR move that is drawing attention to a worthy cause as the moment where we worry about money? This is a good use.

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  11. Chris makes a good point. I heard about it on NPR today, too.

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  12. The video getting so much attention is totally worth the money that was spent to make it. It couldn't have been used in a better way.

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  13. I agree with Ale. Beyond that, it just wasn't a very interesting or insightful article. I enjoyed the comments much more.

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  14. I agree with Alex and ET. I love how so many people came together and worked for a common cause .I loved the video and it truly touched my heart .The article comes up with alternatives to use those $25000 but I couldn't find a single one was better than this amazing video which has created so much buzz and brought positive attention to the city.

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  15. While this video did cost 25,000 dollars, I think that it was worth it. With this advertisement and the attention that the city has gotten over the video, they could probably make the money back in tourism. The video was shown on one of national talk shows, and one of my friends from Grand Rapids posted it on his facebook page. All this attention will certainly help the city.

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