Comments on: Want a fresh take on the campus tour online video? Have a look at the University LipDub Project!

By: Karine Joly

Karine Joly — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:34:57 +0000

Phil,

I know that the university lipdub project was 100% non-commercial. And, I appreciate the perspective from a web visitor based in Germany.
Marketing isn’t “evil” – especially when it uses transparency and real excitement to engage target audiences and to show them what they can expect from the school/university they want to attend.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:56:18 +0000

Args i forgot about Chris:
The Lipdubs are made to represent the students, the people who fill the ivory towers of education with life. They show those things youre not able to transport in a brochure or in an organised tour through the holy halls of your intitute. And its better they dont try to advertise your university because it ll defenitly gonna spoil the “wow” and “what a fun” effect.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:47:58 +0000

To settle the “commercial” things right:
The original universitylipdub project was 100% non-commercial and based only on excitement and curiosity. The german students only wanted to find out whats up in other countries and on other universities across the world.

With the huge viral success things started to alter and both marketing blogs and buisness schools jumped on, suggesting to utilize this kind of lipdubs to acquire students and generate advertance (attention).

The way all good and innocent things go down these days :)

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:28:12 +0000

@Kristen Be careful using the “Cribs” name. We did something similar a few years ago, calling the pieces “MHC Cribs.” Viacom discovered it and we had to change the name (to MHC Dens — http://www.youtube.com/marshillcollege#p/u/23/boc52HiHWfo). Don’t know if it would make a difference that yours are student-produced, and ours were done by our communications/web office.

By: Mike Nolan

Mike Nolan — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:45:50 +0000

I suspect it would kill the mood and you’d not get the level of enthusiasm from the students.

While I noticed all the things you mentioned, I’m less concerned about it. I probably wouldn’t put a video like that on our homepage but I’d make sure that prospective students got to see it through some other channel as it’s fun and reflects some of the university experience in a more authentic way.

I don’t know where Chris Weaver is from, but I suspect there are differences between Canada, USA, UK, Continental Europe and every other country – you can buy alcohol in the Quebec at 18 for example so featuring it alongside students is less taboo.

By: Chris Weaver

Chris Weaver — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:54:15 +0000

While I appreciate the energy and enthusiasm in this video, and its one-shot technique is pretty amazing, I’m a little surprised that no one has pointed the numerous alcohol- and sex-related visual innuendos that are all over this video. Here’s a few from just the first half:
1:02 blow-up sex doll
1:19 alcohol reference
1:26 alcohol reference
2:05-2:17 alcohol reference (passing the gin bottle)
2:30 female ‘flasher’
2:35 alcohol reference
I don’t even list the male flasher, the cross-dressing (I think) nun, the fake priest, and I’m sure many other things my generational sensitivities don’t immediately pick up.
So while I genuinely like this video, and appreciate the students’ effort and energy, there’s no way I would ever think to promote this from any institutional website, due to the message it’s sending re: “good night = alcohol” (or vice versa).
So, here’s my question: could the same student energy be captured in a student-produced video with some institutional script oversight? Or would that “kill the mood” right there?

By: Kristen

Kristen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:49:24 +0000

We are doing a video contest called “Butler’s Best Cribs” so hopefully we will see some great responses: http://go.butler.edu/lifeatbutler/?pg=7933.

By: Travis Brock

Travis Brock — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:28:46 +0000

A great video I watched over and over again. I still can’t believe they gathered everyone, taught them the song, taught them the sequence, and shot it all in one morning.

This is one of the first LipDub videos that have been widely played in the US both on YouTube and news (on CNN several times). So as more and more videos like this start making there way around the U.S. I am sure we will be seeing more of them from US students too.

By: Karine Joly

Karine Joly — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:07:18 +0000

So, I’ve heard back from the students.

They didn’t ask for permission to use the tune and the ad to buy the song was placed by YouTube, so it’s definitely an illustration of the YouTube Audio ID program.

By: Mike Nolan

Mike Nolan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:31:06 +0000

@OtherWebGuy: I wouldn’t say this video was clearly created for commercial purposes. If it was part of their course, or just a bunch of students doing it for fun, is that commercial? If the university planned, organised and paid for it then maybe, but it’s certainly not clear-cut. There are undoubtedly commercial benefits, especially when it gets featured on CNN, but I can imagine the marketing department knew little about it until it went viral!