The Story Behind that Big UW-Milwaukee Viral Video

By now, many people have viewed UW-Milwaukee’s latest viral YouTube video. The video, this year’s graduation video, has accumulated more than 147,000 views in a little over 3 days.  That places the video’s success at the top of those that the school has produced.

The video – which features students from different majors dancing to the tune of Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” has passed the basketball team’s “Happy” video from 2014, after they made the NCAA Tournament, which has around 77,000 views, according to Michelle Johnson, UWM’s Director of Media Services.

However, it turns out that Timberlake didn’t just tweet that highly publicized shoutout to UWM out of the goodness of his heart; he profits financially each time the video is played due to a deal he’s cut with You Tube for use of his songs. It didn’t cost UWM anything to use, though.

“UWM did not pay Justin Timberlake for the right to use ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling,'” said Johnson. “Timberlake has an agreement with YouTube that allows the song to be used in other people’s videos, and Timberlake derives ad revenue when they are played.”

Congrats @UWM grads! ???????Impressive!! #uwmgrad#CantStopTheFeeling#Graduation edition: https://t.co/qdvjZShsq8

— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) May 23, 2016

However, every play also benefits UWM through free publicity that would normally cost a lot of money to buy.

So, what goes into the making of a viral video? Johnson provided Media Milwaukee with some insight on how the process worked.

The project was devised and completed by the University Relations department. Johnson said that Tina Keller, senior digital marketing strategist (and a graduate of UWM’s Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies Department), along with Mary Baylor, video services manager, brainstormed the idea on the Tuesday before the video’s release.

Over the next 36 hours, 23 shoots were done, both on campus and around the city. The shots consisted of 20 students, Chancellor Mark Mone, school mascot Pounce, and a group shot in Spaights Plaza. One of the shots even took place at 6:30 a.m. at Sendik’s on Downer, prior to the store’s opening. Shots were also done in grocery stores as well as other locations downtown. Videographer Chris Baylor then, according to Johnson, stayed up all night editing the video, which was teased as graduation and released on Sunday night.

Then, Monday happened.

The video was set to Timberlake’s newest single “Can’t Stop The Feeling”, which is quickly staking its claim as one of the songs of the summer. Monday afternoon, Timberlake himself shared the video with his 55.3 million followers on Twitter and 39.4 million on Facebook.

The video also was covered by all four major news stations in Milwaukee, as well as “stations in Florida, Colorado and Arizona,” according to Johnson. Johnson also estimates that around 700,000 people have seen the video in total as a result of the vast media coverage.

So, what does this mean for the university as a brand? Joette Rockow, an Advertising/PR senior lecturer at UWM told Media Milwaukee that as a result of the positive nature of the video, “viewers are going to come away with a very positive image of UWM and its students.”

Rockow also pointed out that Timberlake’s tweet “only adds to the positive feelings and awareness about UWM.” That awareness could be an important thing for UWM, as the school is currently dealing with enrollment concerns.

Johnson told Media Milwaukee that Graham Kilmer, 2016 graduate, award-winning Media Milwaukee student journalist, and one of the students in the video, got a text from his sister saying, “If I had seen a video like that when I was looking at colleges, I probably would have applied.”