February 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 58

MOVING PICTURES

otes when they walked with their corgis and they didn't know what to do, "
Bonnell says.
A brainstorming session helped to
fuel Bonnell's script. The O'Sheas produced the video and played a variety
of characters in need of a clue or two
about hazing coyotes. All the bumbling
how not to's make the how to's more
memorable.

Cara McLeod, marketing communications coordinator for the City
of Raleigh, North Carolina's Parks,
Recreation and Cultural Resources
Department, swears by the power
of YouTube and short videos. " No
more than two minutes, " she says. " A
minute gets us the most views. "
The agency's most-viewed video
(http://bit.ly/1cxfSRm) runs just

In the YouTube era, video can carry your cause far.
Since its debut in April 2013, " How
to Haze a Coyote " (http://bit.ly/1g6FnvR) has captured more than 5,600
views on YouTube. A research biologist said Bonnell did more for the cause
of human-coyote conflict through the
eight-minute video than 50 years of research at his agency.
In a New York Minute
In hindsight, Bonnell would have made
the video shorter, in keeping with YouTube-habituated attention spans. According to the Pew Research Journalism
Project, the most popular YouTube videos average two minutes, one second.

one minute and 15 seconds long.
McLeod did it low budget, filming
it on a Flip Video camera mounted
to a tripod without the use of an external microphone, and also edited it
on the camera.
On the title slide, " Marsh Creek Skate
Park " is displayed in an edgy font set to
a bass riff. A staff member speaks on
camera about the park's grand opening,
then dynamic footage of young skateboarders navigating the new park's dips
and swells plays as he outlines the safety
requirements of park use.
Since 2009, the video has generated more than 7,200 views. By show-

Marketing the Park and Recreation Story

any park and recreation professionals have plenty of compelling stories
that illustrate the importance of the work they do in their communities, but
they aren't sure of how to best spread the word. Effective storytelling and
marketing, however, can help increase participation from your community, encourage better funding from your municipal budget, make your agency more competitive for grant applications and more.
At the 2014 Congress and Exposition in Charlotte, North Carolina, you can attend
an education session titled " Marketing the Park and Recreation Story " that will help
you learn how to best leverage the work you're already doing for improved returns.
William Lebzelter, the author of this article, will join Peter Magnuson, NRPA's director
of marketing, and Danielle Taylor, Park & Recreation Magazine's senior editor, with
other panelists to share strategies and techniques on video marketing, email marketing, branding, editorial coverage and other methods to increase your agency's
exposure. Check www.nrpa.org/Congress2014 for updates on a date and time.

Parks & Recreation

| F E B R UA R Y 2 0 1 4 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

ing skateboarders enjoying their new
park, the video strikes a chord universal with loyal park visitors. McLeod
distills it as, " This park makes a difference in my life. "
New York City Parks and Recreation condenses the sentiment to " It's
My Park, " a beloved, long-running
video series. Staff producer Adrian
Sas has featured about 400 parks,
with plans to capture what people
love about more than 1,700 city parks
spread across five boroughs.
Around 2005, the New York Cityowned broadcast station nyctv needed
more content relevant to New Yorkers. " It's My Park " was born, with Sas
its director, editor, camera operator
and interviewer since the start.
The TV show follows a magazine
format, with each episode a collection of five park videos four to five
minutes long. In recent years, Sas
has crystallized each episode into the
" It's My Park Minute " for between
TV shows and YouTube.
" We intended them for the viewer with shorter attention spans, " she
says. " Sometimes they're played in
taxicabs. That's really an unsuspecting audience. "
Her most memorable experience
was filming a moonlight kayaking
trip on the East River. While Sas
chugged along as a passenger in a
rowboat with an outboard motor, she
filmed the voyage from Queens to the
Brooklyn Bridge. A brightly lit Pepsi-Cola sign adds dramatic effect, reddening the rippling waters and casting the kayakers in silhouette (http://
bit.ly/19s3iyr).
Viewers draw their own meaning.
" Hopefully they say, 'I didn't know I
could do that,' " Sas says. " Or when
[an episode covers] a park they know
about, sometimes they don't know
about a program. Or they take even
more pride in their park when it's on
YouTube or on TV. "

February 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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