Seven G Media created this video for SEMpdx, a search marketing group in Portland, for its upcoming October educational event about two changes to Google’s search algorithm over the last year.
I think it is a fun way to promote an event. It also takes advantage of a trending YouTube music video, which is the Gangnam Style video that has had more than 276 million views since July and has been featured on Ellen, the Today Show, and Saturday Night Live. Countless parody Gangnam Style videos have been created over the last few weeks, including ones from the University of Oregon and the Naval Academy.
The idea to parody the video for the educational event came during a SEMpdx board retreat (I am a board member) when Michael Cottam mentioned that he could get the Panda and Penguin costumes from a client.
We didn’t spend too much time on this video (we all have paying work that needs to be done), but I did download the Gangnam video, outlined all of its scenes and what we possibly could recreate, and toured the location for the shoot.
Michael brought his convertible (which is one sweet ride). We shot the video over 90 minutes on Friday afternoon. We had to strong arm, I mean recruit, dancers from Amplify Interactive and AboutUs. Our Penguin and Panda co-stars were Ryan Campbell (Panda) and Brent Baltzer (Penguin). We shot the video around the building where Amplify and AboutUs are located (inner eastside Portland). Kristina Weis, marketing director at AboutUs, also was an incredible help with the video production. And finally, we need to give a shout out to Steven DeTray and Elijah Hoffman from Splash Worldwide, who on a moments notice agreed to be in the big dance sequence and even provided some costumes.
It took me a couple hours to edit the video. The one challenge you see (or hear) in the video was where I had to cut some of the original song (no one wants to see these “dancers” for more than a couple of minutes).Let me know what you think. I would be happy to discuss options for similar parody videos for you and your organization.
Early results from the video posting have been positive. It has been online for about an hour and already has been viewed more than 70 times, has two YouTube positive comments, and has been Tweeted about more than a dozen times. The one thing I can promise you is that the filming process will be a lot of fun.