I’m going to go rogue for this post and take a moment to
talk about Indianapolis on a larger level than normal. It has come to the
attention of Hoosiers who have had the misfortune of a friend sharing it on
their social media page of choice that a video terrifying enough to rival the
tape from The Ring has emerged from the bowels of the internet. In an extremely
misguided attempt to recapture the nostalgia of Super Bowls past, TheIndianapolis Convention and Visitors Association banded together to release a
promotional video known as the Indy Super Bowl Shuffle. Those with a weak
constitution should refrain from watching the following clip.
The horrors within this five and a half minute video involve
staff members of various Downtown Indianapolis hotels touting the services and
high qualities of their respective hotels in the form of terribly lip-synched,
80’s synth-drenched rapping a la the classic 1985 Chicago Bears Super Bowl
Shuffle (which let’s be honest, isn’t that great either). Suited up in white
headbands and dark sunglasses, the hotel community does everything but dignify our small hometown with this baffling video in an attempt to notify incoming
Super Bowl visitors of the hotel services available in the Circle City during
the big game in February. The terrible quality of nearly everything about the
video had me immediately asking myself how I’ll be able to show the rest of the
country Indiana as a whole does not approve of this video as a representation of the Hoosier State
in the slightest.
Given Indianapolis’ recent terrible luck on the sporting
front, with the Colts in an endless pit of despair and the Pacers’ chance to,
for once, finally take the spot light from football being delayed by the NBA
lockout, this travesty to the senses does not help us look any better. Indiana
is known to the rest of the world mainly for several things, including The
Colts, The Pacers, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and corn. With two out of
those four gone, our chances of defying any stereotypes
the rest of the world may have of Indy decreases.
Members of the ICVA and the creators of the parody have
taken the video down from their Youtube page (although not fast enough for
copies to emerge elsewhere) and have gone on record stating the video was only
intended as a way to reach out to meeting planners in Chicago and invite them to
visit their booth at a trade show in the Windy City. So simply put, the true
mistake the ICVA made was forgetting to hit the “Private Viewing” button on the
video. But the bigger crime the creators made was forgetting that good
promotion requires better execution.
However, this video can be seen as a minor speed bump in the
road to Indianapolis’s expansion. Bringing the Super Bowl to Indy has been a
blessing of which the Circle City has already seen the effects unfolding. Take
a look at this promotional video Indy Connect created to inform the public of
their plans to expand the city’s transit systems. Now check out this clip
VisitIndy.com made to promote the Indianapolis Convention Center’s connectedness to the city’s
surrounding hotels and landmarks.
This video basically accomplishes everything the Indy Super
Bowl Shuffle tried to convey, and did it while being classy and respectable to
its own city. This is a video I can get behind. This is a video I would gladly
show the rest of the country. Indiana has long been overlooked as just an
insignificant part of the Midwest, but the expansion to the Indianapolis
Convention Center, the construction of the J.W. Marriott hotel and the near-constant
road construction in Downtown Indianapolis, all thanks to the Super Bowl being hosted at Lucas Oil Stadium (which was built with the intent of bringing the Super Bowl to Indy) are all a testament to the Hoosier
state’s preparation to finally share the spotlight with major cities like
Chicago. Yes, the Indy Super Bowl Shuffle was meant as a friendly, joking nudge
to a convention hall full of business men and no one else, but Hoosiers have
plenty of reasons to ignore it and be proud of the city they live in, even if
the Colts make it difficult to do so.
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