Rob Bliss

[GRDadof3]

I'm the opposite - I generally hate lipdubs but I liked this. I get what you're talking about, and I have some technical beefs with the production too, but overall I was impressed by the sheer amount of coordination and personalities involved. Maybe you can count me in as one of the "group huggers." Also, keep in mind, when college students do this, they put their most peppy, extroverted/high-energy performers in front of the camera, and let's face it, folks like Mayor Heartwell or John Gonzales** aren't in that profile.

One thing you can't deny: I've been following the national (and some international) media coverage on this, and it's been insanely positive everywhere. The "Grand Rapids pwned Newsweek" narrative, though I find it a tad annoying, has gained traction in most of the articles.

I agree. However, the college student groups that do these are usually cognizant of this, and engage the campus minority organizations to participate. That didn't happen here, so the only "demographic" that showed up was the one that generally goes to Rob Bliss events. There's not much minority representation there.

**To be fair to poor John, he was way too warmly-dressed! He must have been roasting.

The people who "showed up" were mainly the people who actually had parts in the lipdub. Choreographed participants, personally invited by the production crew. If you want to have minority participation, you have to actually invite minorities (and there are a lot of Hispanics and African Americans who are not on Facebook).

[GRDadof3]

Finally watched it and am amazed. For a non-professional, high cost video this is great and super coolio.

Grand Rapids is world breaking and world setting.

Great things are happening here and people are really enjoying life here in Grand Rapids.

I can with full confidence and conviction proclaim that Grand Rapids is the most spiritually secure city in the world. Our Heavenly Father has used the Intelligence Community to make it so.

~John

Proverbs 3:5&6

The video had a cost of $27,000. I know a lot of professional videographers who do videos for far less than that. Also, SEF is a professional video company.

Personally, I think the video is fine. The song is awful, the shots are not very tight (like Urbanist mentioned), there needed to be way more people on the sidewalks (how about not making it a four hour event on a Sunday, and just invite the public to come for the final take of 1.0 hours), it could have used a lot more young people singing, more women w/ singing parts, a few more "clever" segments, etc.. But apparently my standards are too high for the general populace, which seems to really like it.

I think it's funny how Ebert and several other national outlets are calling it "one uninterrupted shot." Have they not heard the "lipdub" term yet?

[fotoman311]

Roger Ebert called the GR Lipdub "the greatest music video ever made," on his blog. He also apparently originally cited the city as Cedar Rapids, IA instead of Grand Rapids, MI. He later corrected himself.

http://blogs.suntime...video-ever.html

While I enjoyed the lipdub, one has to wonder whether Mr. Ebert is getting a little senile. But, I'm glad he liked the video.

Also, it appears to be about 70,000 shy of 1 million views in the first five days. That's a lot more than I expected that quickly.

[GRDadof3]

Speaking of Gerry Barnaby, as we did in the Walgreens thread, here's his take on the lipdub.

"Bliss was smart because he stocked the video pond with social media savvy stars. Tweeters, bloggers and Facebookers who would fan the cyber flames of desire to see and share the video he created...

The second the video was released the social media machine starting chugging. Mlive (a website that spreads stories across the Michigan newswires) did its part to get the story moving. Bill Steffen, a local TV meteorologist with a "bazillion" Facebook followers, had a cameo and pitched it to his peeps. Josh Deprenbrok, a guy with 20K followers on his Grand Rapids event bulletin board, also in the dub, gave everyone the heads up. See how this is going? It's one thing to create a video and hope it goes viral...it's more of a sure thing when you have all sorts of people with e-connections recommending it!"

A lot of local efforts have "starred" or been hosted by local social media personalities with mixed success; it's not always guaranteed. Google Fiber, Fight Hunger GR, United Way's Superfriendz, the parties at the JW and Cygnus/Amway, even The Rapid's campaign. I'd say Grand Rapids is going on two years of this kind of marketing strategy.

What helped the video was not the local SM personalities, but getting picked up by national media outlets.

[gvsusean]

I am shocked htat it has garnered this much support... I wasnt the biggest fan but, Ive watched it a few times and I like it more and more each time...

[Veloise]

A lot of local efforts have "starred" or been hosted by local social media personalities with mixed success; it's not always guaranteed. Google Fiber, Fight Hunger GR, United Way's Superfriendz, the parties at the JW and Cygnus/Amway, even The Rapid's campaign. I'd say Grand Rapids is going on two years of this kind of marketing strategy.

What helped the video was not the local SM personalities, but getting picked up by national media outlets.

What Barnaby is getting at: RB selected "stars" with big FB friend lists and massive twitter feeds. They immediately re-tweeted everything about the video, making the snowball roll faster. "According to Urban Planet..."

(I have had to de-friend several of the local "personalities" due to their signal-to-noise ratio. One used to type, "I love such and such" on its page. Zero content. Good-bye.)

Also, note that many folks are typing, "I watched it again and again." For instance, I was outside (you know, that place where there's no computers!) digging in my yard, heard the tune from across the street. My neighbor has a friend crashing on the couch; said friend mentioned having watched it several times. I gave him a list of all the I Spy things to look for (Waldo, the snare drum, GVSU prez mouthing "rutabaga," etc.) and later he said he'd watched it several more times. Move the decimal point on the number of page views.

At the Memorial Day parade tonight were about 1500 people near the corner of Division and Fulton, way more than at the lipdub.

[GRDadof3]

What Barnaby is getting at: RB selected "stars" with big FB friend lists and massive twitter feeds. They immediately re-tweeted everything about the video, making the snowball roll faster. "According to Urban Planet..."

(I have had to de-friend several of the local "personalities" due to their signal-to-noise ratio. One used to type, "I love such and such" on its page. Zero content. Good-bye.)

Also, note that many folks are typing, "I watched it again and again." For instance, I was outside (you know, that place where there's no computers!) digging in my yard, heard the tune from across the street. My neighbor has a friend crashing on the couch; said friend mentioned having watched it several times. I gave him a list of all the I Spy things to look for (Waldo, the snare drum, GVSU prez mouthing "rutabaga," etc.) and later he said he'd watched it several more times. Move the decimal point on the number of page views.

At the Memorial Day parade tonight were about 1500 people near the corner of Division and Fulton, way more than at the lipdub.

That's exactly what I said. It's not a new strategy. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. There are companies and organizations that have been trying to employ it strategically for at least two years. People even tried it during ArtPrize last year.

[fotoman311]

All the recent comments this morning are from Europe (Germany, Austria, Italy, from what I saw).

There are now over 4,000 comments and >1,000,000 page views (the "official" counter is still under 1,000,000, but if you do a "search" it shows you a more updated counter at 1,011,000)

Even if there are many repeat viewers, I'm still pretty excited and surprised by just how far it has spread in a couple of days.

[jwazzz]

[jwazzz]

All the recent comments this morning are from Europe (Germany, Austria, Italy, from what I saw).

There are now over 4,000 comments and >1,000,000 page views (the "official" counter is still under 1,000,000, but if you do a "search" it shows you a more updated counter at 1,011,000)

Even if there are many repeat viewers, I'm still pretty excited and surprised by just how far it has spread in a couple of days.

Couldn't agree more - it was almost at 1.5 million views a little bit ago. In one of the comments, the guy said he was putting Grand Rapids on his bucket list. How cool is that?

[Veloise]

I feel bad for highly-trained classical music critics who get handed this sort of beat. Links to the Press' reportage on the All Things Considered piece. (Remember holding a mirror up to another one and enjoying the view of infinity? Reminds me of that.)

Interesting comments on the YouTube site. One pointed out the video's starting point near this one. Another wag typed, "this'll be the day that I die" when I visit Grand Rapids? No thanks!

Still want to know if that was a sewing pattern or a store-bought red swirly sundress.

I posted my usual "can you find me?" with the link on a tuba discussion forum, and a musician in California watched the vid, then tracked me down through LinkedIn. So good ol' Rob has brought me a new connection.

[Veloise]

Now there's a Cafe Press souvenir site.

Hope it raises $30k, pays off costs from the water slide.

[jwazzz]

Now there's a Cafe Press souvenir site.

Hope it raises $30k, pays off costs from the water slide.

We get it, we get it - you don't like the video. (Or any of the Bliss projects it would seem.) I want to share a quick GR Lipdub story with you. I got an email today from a friend who lives in New Hampshire - a forward from another friend in Seattle with a link to this video. They loved it and two bigger music snobs you'd be hard pressed to find. I guess my point is if this has left a good impression of GR with people who would normally not even have us on their radar, isn't that a good thing? The nit picking over the song choice or the lack of crowds or the t-shirt one of the participants was wearing seems kind of silly to me. Again, I congratulate Rob for a job well done and look forward to his next project.

[GRDadof3]

We get it, we get it - you don't like the video. (Or any of the Bliss projects it would seem.) I want to share a quick GR Lipdub story with you. I got an email today from a friend who lives in New Hampshire - a forward from another friend in Seattle with a link to this video. They loved it and two bigger music snobs you'd be hard pressed to find. I guess my point is if this has left a good impression of GR with people who would normally not even have us on their radar, isn't that a good thing? The nit picking over the song choice or the lack of crowds or the t-shirt one of the participants was wearing seems kind of silly to me. Again, I congratulate Rob for a job well done and look forward to his next project.

Yes, let's all get in lockstep and support the social media elite cheerleaders of Grand Rapids. No dissent people. Love the video or else, because people on the Today Show like it!

[jwazzz]

Yes, let's all get in lockstep and support the social media elite cheerleaders of Grand Rapids. No dissent people. Love the video or else, because people on the Today Show like it!

Exactly.

[Veloise]

We get it, we get it - you don't like the video. (Or any of the Bliss projects it would seem.) I want to share a quick GR Lipdub story with you. I got an email today from a friend who lives in New Hampshire - a forward from another friend in Seattle with a link to this video. They loved it and two bigger music snobs you'd be hard pressed to find. I guess my point is if this has left a good impression of GR with people who would normally not even have us on their radar, isn't that a good thing? The nit picking over the song choice or the lack of crowds or the t-shirt one of the participants was wearing seems kind of silly to me. Again, I congratulate Rob for a job well done and look forward to his next project.

??? Not sure what "music snobs" have to do with "liking" a video.

The issue I've had for several years is: great wild ideas, not so good on the execution. Like the zombie walk/music fest where he lost his first thousands of dollars because sponsors suddenly pulled out. Or the parade that absolutely HAD to be held on on a particular day because that was the date that GR was founded, and no one can celebrate Christmas on a day other than Dec 25. (Real reason: not enough participants signed up, and the $5k [was it?] prize money wasn't there, so it was easiest to cancel due to a wet forecast. Real parades go rain or shine.)

Someone Who Would Know told me about the $30k in arrears to the city. (The water slide could not work with garden hoses, so FD equipment was added.) City proffered an invoice. Response was not cooperative. I said to my source, someone needs to be a grown-up and help him work out a payment plan; sell T-shirts and pay us back. I was happy to see the Cafe Press site.

I keep seeing wild leaps and stumbles, and the defenders blasting anyone who suggests that the kid might need a mentor, or astute advice, or an economics class. The world is not black and white; it's possible to love the misbehaving child but not the climbing on the table.

[GRDadof3]

??? Not sure what "music snobs" have to do with "liking" a video.

The issue I've had for several years is: great wild ideas, not so good on the execution. Like the zombie walk/music fest where he lost his first thousands of dollars because sponsors suddenly pulled out. Or the parade that absolutely HAD to be held on on a particular day because that was the date that GR was founded, and no one can celebrate Christmas on a day other than Dec 25. (Real reason: not enough participants signed up, and the $5k [was it?] prize money wasn't there, so it was easiest to cancel due to a wet forecast. Real parades go rain or shine.)

Someone Who Would Know told me about the $30k in arrears to the city. (The water slide could not work with garden hoses, so FD equipment was added.) City proffered an invoice. Response was not cooperative. I said to my source, someone needs to be a grown-up and help him work out a payment plan; sell T-shirts and pay us back. I was happy to see the Cafe Press site.

I keep seeing wild leaps and stumbles, and the defenders blasting anyone who suggests that the kid might need a mentor, or astute advice, or an economics class. The world is not black and white; it's possible to love the misbehaving child but not the climbing on the table.

Wasn't there also a lot of damage done by "zombies" in the RPC bathrooms that Rob never paid for?

[jwazzz]

Wasn't there also a lot of damage done by "zombies" in the RPC bathrooms that Rob never paid for?

Are you sure they were Robs Zombies?

[GRDadof3]

Are you sure they were Robs Zombies?

True, there could have been another zombie event downtown at the same time. I think the Michigan Municipal Wastewater Workers convention was happening then, so it could have been them.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm going to go back to talking about development projects.

[jwazzz]

True, there could have been another zombie event downtown at the same time. I think the Michigan Municipal Wastewater Workers convention was happening then, so it could have been them.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm going to go back to talking about development projects.

Dad - that was supposed to be a joke. Google "Rob Zombie".

[GRDadof3]

Dad - that was supposed to be a joke. Google "Rob Zombie".

I know who Rob Zombie is. I just didn't catch the connection. Moving on.

[Veloise]

My high-speed is down; I want to know how many times any of them says, "the Grand Rapids Lipdub."

[jwazzz]

My high-speed is down; I want to know how many times any of them says, "the Grand Rapids Lipdub."

Three.

[Veloise]

Keynote speaker for Michigan Downtowns conference.http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2011-michigan-downtown-conference-announces-keynote-speakers-doug-loescher-and-rob-bliss-126173368.html