Governments are Going Viral. The end of the traditional press release?

The video a state or locality puts up on YouTube doesn’t have to be wacky, but it helps.

The voices of the jingle singers are off-key and the words don’t rhyme, which is part of what makes the energy-saving YouTube video from Arlington County, Virginia, so amusing. A "Professor Farr," wearing goofy safety glasses and oversized blue-and-white gloves, appears in the 45-second video called "Shower," and tells people how to save water, money and the environment by using a low-flow shower head.

The video programming is part of the Arlington Initiative to Reduce Emissions, or AIRE, aimed at increasing energy savings. "Let’s go visit Pete in the shower," the professor says as the camera follows him out of his lab. "Don’t be alarmed, Pete," he says, to the sound of a scream and the appearance of a man in a shower cap holding a back brush. As of early May, some 700 people had watched the silly video with its serious message.

By ELLEN PERLMAN

Full Story: http://governing.com/articles/0806techtalk.htm