The technique was created by a group of students at Hochshule Furtwangen University in Germany, who wanted to “show the whole world that studying does not have to be boring.” They shot a video in which students lip sync to a song, while the camera follows them through campus, resulting in a highly-choreographed musical university tour. This spurred the creation of the “University LipDub Project,” which challenges students of other colleges to produce their own videos and show what their campus has to offer (and to see if their creation is worthy of “going viral”).

What started as a European phenomenon gradually moved over to Canada, where the Université du Québec à Montréal’s “LipDub” video made quite an impression – it became so popular that it was featured on CNN and, to date, has received over 4 million hits on YouTube. Now, U.S. universities have begun to catch on, with Texas State University and Suffolk University being some of the first to embrace the trend.

A prime example that this phenomenon has the chance to transition from a grassroots amusement to a legitimate communications department marketing tool is Johns Hopkins University’s end-of-the-year “LipDub” video. Created to thank their donors for their continued support, it shows how the whole university community can collaborate and lend their voice to promote their community and showcase the spirit behind the brand.

The key to not killing this concept before it leaves the ground is to remain inclusive when it comes to who is primarily representing the university. It is ok for the university staff to have a stake in the video, but don’t lose the student-run feel. As with the popular strategy of featuring student blogs on admissions websites, like MIT does, it is the sense that it is providing an unfiltered, first-hand account of campus life that is the spark behind these videos.

Have other examples of social media trends storming your campus? Share them in the comments section.

-Erin Kelly, Marketing Intern

The launch caps a great year for the school. Recent rankings put Miami among the top 10 law schools for Hispanics and among the top 20 law schools in terms of the quality of the lawyers it produces.

Of course, it’s a good news/bad news scenario for most alumni offices and career service professionals.  On the one hand, what an opportunity—they’re actually CALLING YOU, NEEDING YOU.  On the other hand, this phenomenon is so new that, well, nobody planned for it.  A lot of alumni offices have been caught off guard with their newfound popularity and are working hard to retool to accommodate stressed out mid-career professionals with complex needs.  Alumni offices are responding in ways that look more like professional search firms, short-term loan shops, speed networking experts and social workers.

Not to be insensitive to the source of this new demand for contact and support, but from a branding perspective, there has never been a greater opportunity for Alumni organizations to prove their value and develop deep bonds with their constituents that will last well beyond the current economic crisis.  The key to doing this will be for institutions to use this opportunity to reinvent themselves to operate in this complex new era, to redefine the alumni function in ways that genuinely serve the needs of alumni in ways that can’t be met elsewhere.  If alumni organizations can do this, this could be the beginning of a beautiful new friendship that will benefit academic institutions for many years to come, well after the dust has settled on this current opportunity of crisis.

- Tim Westerbeck, Managing Director & Principal