Great work, but you missed the whole point
Back in August Worcester was all a buzz with the release of the Worcester College Consortium promo video “Worcester Rocks”. Today the T&G did a follow up which honestly, reads like they just discovered it. It’s a very weird piece to read though, it screams of the sort of internet ignorance that makes me sad for kids in Worcester who really do have to live in the shadows of adults who just don’t understand the world they exist in.
Let me back up. The video itself is great, better than great, it’s nearly perfect. Exactly what the city needs for promo. It may have been way overpriced ($65k) but it remains pretty much the best ‘official’ marketing Worcester has ever pulled off. The problem is, six months later the video has been viewed by 9500 people per YouTube stats and the Consortium seems to think that’s excellent.
It’s not. It’s terrible.
In terms of web distribution of a promo piece targeting the most easily accessible audience on the web, it’s absolutely horrendous. To date this works out to approximately 7 dollars per view and that’s including the 1000 or so reported links coming in from local sources, people who already live here and obviously do not fit into the target demographic. 9500 people isn’t enough to significantly affect car traffic downtown never mind online.
For the sake of comparison, here’s a Worcester sharks clip that has 4500 views in under a month
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkFY4V2WTcs
Here’s a rodeo clip from the DCU that has 314,295 views in a month and a half
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-7UabJdf38
And those are just local clips; take a look at this Jimmy Kimmel video added three days ago; 2,244,730 views in three days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIQrBouWRiE
that, is viral.
Again, I think the video is great. But I’m not part of the target demographic. The real question to ask here is what are the conversion goals? Do we know how many people have seen this video and decided to come to Worcester for school? Or just to get drunk, even? We can publish ‘OMG WORCESTERS ON YOUTUBE!!!’ fluff pieces as quickly as we can find PR people to type them. But actual results are a much different game.
If the T&G really wants to focus on local, successful, viral, video marketing online (done for less than 65k) the only story in town remains the kids at Worcester Love and the T&G has handled that potential cash cow of a partnership pretty abysmally, if you ask me.
edit: thanks to Keith over at Ale Works for reminding me of what may go down as the Grandaddy of Worcester viral video. The Dukes of Worcester at 14k views in 11 months(40k+ if you consider the multiple sources hosting it on YT alone) with no PR muscle behind it.
Public relations and a giant load of BS
Today’s T&G has coverage of Worcester State Colleges push for armed police on campus. Now anyone who’s familiar with me is sure to know I have no problem with guns. In fact I’d argue, we need more, not less of them. And if WSC wants guns I say we buy them a case of MP5’s just for fun; but can I kindly request that we fire WSC President Janelle C. Ashley and use her salary to buy the new armaments? PR and marketing is front line work, you can’t be a mindless boob and expect to do yourself any favors. So let’s ignore for a second Ms. Ashleys director of public relations and marketing Michael Wronski evoking September 11th as need for armed campus security; I’m a WSC neighbor as is Worcester Airport, I have a had time believing six shooters are going to make a worthy air defense system to protect school property from the Cessna’s which are apparently flying into the Learning Resource Center on a regular basis. And as a neighbor I’m going to be real pissed if someone does shoot down a plane to protect the school and it instead crashes into my head. Unless of course Mr. Wronski is talking about another September 11th, one that didn’t involve planes. In either case you’re just another douche who can find nothing more creative than fear to push an agenda.
No, lets ignore the apparent terrorist threat to the school and instead focus on the money quote from Ms. Ashley; the one I’m sure WPD Chief Gemme was thrilled to wake up to today.
“As you know, Worcester State borders the outskirts of the city and we calculate that the state police would take up to 20-30 minutes to respond and the Worcester city police 15-20 minutes. We have learned that a rapid emergency response is a critically important factor in containing serious incidents in which students or staff are in danger.”
Hmmm, 20min? Are the WPD being dispatched from Framingham now? Because a look at the WSC 2006 Jeanne Cleary Disclosure of Campus Security
Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act clearly states:
The College Police also maintains a close working relationship with both the State Police and the Worcester Police Department. In the rare event that it is necessary to request assistance of either agency, the average response time is less than five minutes.
Right. So here’s today’s lesson kids. PR and Marketing, like firearms, are very dangerous in the hands of amateurs.
Taste of Shrewsbury Street College Shuffle
A few weeks back I made mention of the promo video the Worcester College Consortium unleashed on youtube, a spectacular example of how promotion can be, but rarely is, done on a local level. Today I noticed they have a second video up promoting the ‘Taste of Shrewsbury Street College Shuffle’. Now we’re right back at square one. This clip actually made me vomit, twice, with it’s crazy Blair Witch style photography.
Consistency folks, it’s not a bad thing.
