Okay, I know this is ancient in internet land, and I've previously posted it, but I absolutely love it. In a 5 minute rap video,these guys manage to cover just about every area of urban Richmond and hit the highlights of what makes living in the City of Richmond super cool:
- Architecture
- The river
- Unique venues for music (the National) and movies (Byrd Theatre)
- Great restaurants
- VCU
- Vibrant nightlife
- History and museums
- Various cool and different urban neighborhoods, including the Fan, Downtown, Oregon Hill, Shockoe Slip, Museum District, Shockoe Bottom, Union Hill, Carver.
[NOTE: Granted, many of these neighborhoods are just covered as background or with a flash of historic landmarks, but at least multiple neighborhoods ARE covered, rather than the incessant focus on "Downtown" that we get now. And I know plenty of places were left off that are in the City, including the Near West End, Northside, and urban Southside, but I think these guys were covering "the City" as an urban environment. All of those other areas noted about (Areas 20, 30 and 60 in real-estate-agent-speak) started as suburbs and were later incorporated into the City].
Folks, these guys GET. IT. And they are absolutely the Creative Class that the City of Richmond wants so badly to attract and retain. And they highlight almost every single important element that Richard Florida says the Creative Class WANTS. Those elements are already here.
So I think Venture Richmond should watch this at the next meeting about the "RVA Downtown" brand. Then maybe they will choose to reallocate that branding money to....promoting this video. And funding programs in the City schools. And re-producing a GREAT booklet that the City used to make, but no longer does, which catalogs and describes the characteristics of each and every urban City neighborhood, including the old City suburbs. [NOTE: I will scan and post that booklet sometime soon, hopefully today].
We need to promote what we ALREADY ARE that is really great. How exactly does a logo or a slogan do that?
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