ICVA Releases Horrible Super Bowl Ad "Promoting" Indy

You'll want five minutes of your life back after you see this.

The Indiana Convention and Visitors Association posted this clip on one of their YouTube channels. The word on the street is it was intended for a trade show of some sorts. But I don't think that makes me feel any better.

This clip basically epitomizes every single complaint I've ever heard about ICVA and Indianapolis Downtown Inc and all the other similar organizations all rolled into one. That they're frankly not only downtown focused, but primarily focused in the "Mile Square" and everything else is on their own.

The overall message I got from this ad was:

• We have like, six hotels, total.
• If you aren't staying at one of these downtown hotels, you're probably a loser.
• Use the Skywalk so you don't have to see or watch or hear or feel anything unseemly, like snow or cold or salt on a sidewalk.
• Don't ever go outside.
• Eat at in-house restaurants.
• We can't stress this enough, don't ever go outside.

One very reliable source, who generally holds ICVA's media work in high regard, is telling me that this little clip cost $35,000. ICVA released a statement saying

This clip seems to have gone "viral", with even many of my non-political Facebook and Twitter friends commenting on it. At the time I'm writing this, there are 146 "Dislikes" on YouTube compared to 62 "Likes".

Finally, ICVA uploaded this comment to their video:

To reiterate, this video was produced to pre-promote a trade show in Chicago for convention and meeting planners. The goal was to showcase our hotels and convention center and have some fun with the fact that we're hosting the Super Bowl. As a parody it was not intended to be taken too seriously and, by no means, was it meant to encapsulate all that Indianapolis has to offer. It didn't cost a dime and nobody was hurt in the filming of this video.

Make of it what you will, though I personally don't buy the whole "didn't cost a dime" line.

UPDATE: The video has since been yanked. You can read this blog entry from the ICVA blog and see their train of thought and how they're obviously lying through their teeth. I love how they keep repeating that it was for a trade-show and only intended to them, but then people point to their Twitter and Facebook feed where it was ALSO posted. One commenter even notes that the Facebook posting says, specifically, to "Share It".

On the one hand, if this is the worst screw up that happens during the Super Bowl, we're lucky. On the other hand, if these marketing geniuses don't know how to use the "Unlisted video" option on YouTube, or how to embed a low quality video in an e-mail, then I question if they can handle marketing Indianapolis during the Super Bowl.

The sports blog DeadSpin was particularly brutal.