View Full Version : So Cool



ljbab728
02-18-2012, 11:36 PM
Steve posted an interesting new OKC video on his blog. It's certainly much better than the last one that came out and should appeal to a younger urban sensibility instead of the cowtown vibe.

http://blog.newsok.com/okccentral/2012/02/19/so-cool/

poe
02-19-2012, 07:47 AM
Nice.

Architect2010
02-19-2012, 08:30 AM
Love it.

Roadhawg
02-19-2012, 09:57 AM
https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTgdGsXpc8XRgCmTqUC8k3zlsUuBP9Y8 HEwEEoSlEelcHMgDy56

catch22
02-19-2012, 11:05 AM
nice!

kevinpate
02-19-2012, 11:32 AM
Don't care much for rap in general, but yeppers, that was an interesting bit of video.

Double Edge
02-19-2012, 11:54 AM
Nice. This reminds me of the blind men and the elephant story.

metro
02-19-2012, 08:23 PM
Better than the Chambers, but this has a high school vibe to it.

ljbab728
02-19-2012, 11:00 PM
Better than the Chambers, but this has a high school vibe to it.

I have no idea what that means but at least it's urban high school. LOL

RadicalModerate
02-20-2012, 07:53 AM
I wanted to hate this song--for about five seconds, because of my musical preferences--but I had to repent. I think the makers of that video did an excellent job of capturing the diversitiy of OKC. (And diversity is a good thing.)

Doug Loudenback
02-21-2012, 04:42 PM
I thought that the video was interesting and I enjoyed watching it. That said, it shows only a very small slice of the city, that being a few of the gritty parts, but I don't think that it shows much beyond that. In my opinion. I am glad that a rapper had good things to say about the city and the parts of it that were important to him, and he did a good doing that. But ... if this is intended to be a downtown-city-wide video, he way missed the mark ... again, in my opinion. There is so much more to show than a few pieces of grit.

Steve
02-21-2012, 08:58 PM
Not intended to be a downtown-city-wide video. I heard Urbanized Okie provide a pretty good analysis of it this morning. Hopefully he'll share it here.

ljbab728
02-21-2012, 10:06 PM
Our city is too diverse to have a "one size fits all" video. We needed this to appeal to a different demographic than what has been targeted in the past.

bombermwc
02-22-2012, 06:56 AM
I thought it was a great different view from the normal perfect view videos from the chamber. It's nice to see both out there, giving you a more acurate view of what we are. We're both. Cool.

Larry OKC
02-22-2012, 07:40 PM
Video & lyrics were fine, but I could do without the rap...just personal pref

Urbanized
02-27-2012, 01:53 PM
Hah, nothing like a little pressure Steve. I can't even remember exactly what I said to you, but here goes:

This video was in part a reaction by the creative community to what some of them believe was a bland, underwhelming video done by the Chamber. I wasn't involved in that discussion (and wouldn't qualify as a member of the "creative community" in OKC, anyway), but I know a number of people who do qualify, follow them on Twitter, etc.

But critics of both videos often fail to consider the audience for which each was made. Neither was made for a general audience, but rather very specific ones. When they are re-purposed to a general group, they are each going to get some negative reaction.

The original Chamber video was made for the Mayor's State of the City address, period. It was fine for that event, because the audience is a bunch of suits at a rubber chicken banquet (and I'm saying this as someone who has attended this event, in a suit, enjoying my rubber chicken). The entire event is by its nature self-congratulatory and designed to motivate the local business community. I'm not saying "self-congratulatory" as a negative at all, since selling OKC to its own residents and business community is part of the mission of the Chamber. As far as that mission is concerned, the video succeeds.

Including shots of Whole Foods or Sunflower Market is appropriate for the original usage, because landing those businesses last year was the result of the Chamber's retail recruitment program. This is the overwhelming theme of the piece; we had a good year.

You can take issue with some of the antiquated B-roll used - I counted at least 4 shots that showed the Devon Tower site, but with no tower or even tower construction - or on the repeated emphasis placed on the studio musicians, but the video is fine for the intended audience.

The problem is when someone decided to re-purpose it as a commercial. It becomes cringe-worthy to many, as it sortof flies in the face of "big league city" status to say "hey look America, we have a Whole Foods!" or to even call your town a "big league city." Their position (rightly so I think) is that ACTUAL big cities EXPECT to have those types of amenities, and as long as we get exceptionally fired up about those things we still don't QUITE qualify as a major city. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that the video was entirely appropriate for a Chamber year-in-review audience.

Regarding the Jabee video, it is again intended for a specific audience; this time OKC's creative community. It was designed as an intro video for the Addy Awards, the OKC Ad Club's annual awards banquet. Of course there is crossover between the Chamber and the advertising community (and to a lesser degree the film/art/music communities), but that video was obviously targeted at a younger audience, and specifically creatives. It hit the nail right on the head, and it has had an overwhelmingly positive response.

Those people WANT their city to be more urban, edgy and diverse. "Gritty" is a positive to them; and see some of the other things we often collectively and publicly celebrate as a little bit Stepford.

The Chamber crowd, on the other hand, is much less concerned that the city be perceived as edgy, and in fact would probably call "gritty" a negative.

The other thing about the Jabee video is that it is again mostly targeted at locals, and the creative community is leading the way in building a pretty impressive "buy local" movement. Shooting in Super Cao Nguyen was a not-so-subtle dig at the prominence Whole Foods received in the other. The placement of a large, modern locally-owned Vietnamese and Asian grocery in the production celebrates "local" and "diverse" in one fell swoop.

This is NOT the video you use to recruit outside businesses or people (though it might be good for attracting prospective college students or a creative-industry workforce. This is a video that is designed to make creatives and young adults already living here feel good about their city, and it succeeded mightily in this endeavor, if you followed the comments on Twitter and elsewhere.

The good news is that there is room for both, and that we have both a strong business community AND a strong (and getting stronger) creative one. I also believe that the business and creative communities are perhaps more closely aligned than in most cities, are rarely truly antagonistic towards each other, and that both are nearly universal in their enthusiasm for OKC's revival, no matter the shape that revival takes. The unifying characteristic of both groups is a strong desire to see Oklahoma City move forward and a pride in what we've accomplished over the past couple of decades.

I also think you have to actually give the Chamber some credit for the success of OKC's creative class; a number of years ago they embraced the message in Richard Florida's work and placed a real focus on attracting and retaining the very folks who are now chiding them a bit for the staid nature of their marketing message.

I do think that there is a yet-to-be-made promotional video that bridges the gap between both of these spots. A fantastic video could be made highlighting the leaps we have made both in the business climate and the culture of OKC, celebrating economic success, quality of life AND diversity. But instead of locals, it would be targeted to outsiders, and I think we could leverage their low expectations to truly blow their minds with it.

Urbanized
02-27-2012, 01:56 PM
If you managed to read all of that, I'm sorry for how long it is. I know this probably doesn't make sense to some, but I didn't have time to write a shorter version!