It’s not a Golden Globes award, but still, the City of West Hollywood scored a Golden Post award for its creative “Alice in WeHoLand” YouTube video to promote pedestrian safety.
The award, announced at the Government Social Media Conference and Expo in Reno, lauded the video and other efforts by the city to use social media to promote pedestrian safety by encouraging drivers and pedestrians to pay more attention to crosswalks and to devote less time to digital distractions. To date, the video, available on YouTube has received more than 780,000 views.
“Alice in WeHoLand” was produced by the City of West Hollywood’s Public Information Division and was conceived by YouTube sensation Todrick Hall, a singer, actor, director, choreographer and dancer who rose to the semi-finals of American Idol in its ninth season. He received international acclaim for his creative role in the CLIO Award-winning safety video for Virgin America.
“Alice in WeHoLand” is a West Hollywood-themed parody of Taylor Swift’s hit song “Shake It Off,” which broke Billboard records by entering the Hot 100 chart at No. 1. The dance-filled video offers viewers a colorful twist on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland set to new crosswalk safety lyrics, written by Hall, about curbing smartphone use and walking and driving safely.
The video features a vibrant cast of characters with drag queens, gym-bunnies, models, go-go boys and fierce dancers who perform a pulsating choreographed routine in West Hollywood’s Rainbow Crosswalks, as well as other recognizable locations in the city.
Dozens of dancers, models, and actors appear as characters in Alice in WeHoLand, including renowned drag queen Willam Belli as Alice; Todrick Hall as White Rabbit; Andrew Christian models Jon Varak as Mad Hatter, Pablo Hernandez as Tweedle Dee, and Murray Swanby as Tweedle Dum; Glee’s Alex Newell as March Hare; YouTube personality Davey Wavey as himself; actor/model Steven Dehler as himself; and reigning “Queen of YouTube” GloZell as herself.
GSMCON’s Golden Post Award is the first major awards program exclusively designed to recognize the outstanding use of social media by local and state government agencies.
It,s a shame that people strolling with babies in strollers were left out,,as was our senior population who also like to cross the streets in safety…
Also it should be noted (and Larry Block deserves some of the credit, even with the misdirection of cause and blame that was part of his position) that in recent months, at least as far as WeHoVille is concerned, our city’s all ready below average incidence of pedestrian accidents has been reduced even further.
Nice job boys and girls. Really. Awesome. Fun and well done. Really really really well done.
Hard to forget the knee jerk automatic negative reaction from the usual suspects when this campaign was announced and the ad released. It’s why I’ve learned to discount most of the posters here who do nothing but criticize anything the city does or the council authorizes.