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The Little Holiday Video That Could

Holiday Card 2007
It's the "Little Holiday Video That Could. The University of Maryland set out to send an imaginative 2007 holiday video to 200,000 members of the campus community that includes students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, etc. – and ended up creating a "viral video" that is enjoying huge popularity - and bringing many new visitors to the University of Maryland website.

The video – created as President Dan Mote's annual Holiday Card - shows beloved Terp mascot Testudo leading a group of students, faculty, and staff across campus to have their photo taken for the holiday card. Along the way, we also see everyone from Coach Ralph Friedgen, alumnus Connie Chung, Provost Nariman Farvardin, Medal of Science winner Rita Colwell, Athletics Director Debbie Yow, the women and men's basketball teams and even Rep. Steny Hoyer joining in the parade.

"There were 27,261 page views in the first 24 hours after the video card was posted to the University of Maryland website on December 3rd," says Webmaster Linda Martin. "That's up nearly 10,000 views (on the first day) from last year's holiday card." As of December 7, there were some 60,000 page views and it's also been watched on YouTube nearly 1400 times. More than 2,200 people have forwarded the card. It's an international hit, as well. The card has seen watched by viewers from 62 countries, with the majority coming from Germany, Taiwan and China.

Not only is it bringing many new visitors to the University of Maryland website, it's also helping to let the world know that even as a world-class, top 20 research university, Maryland can still take time to have a little fun. And it's bringing with it a lot of goodwill and pride. "We've received hundreds of written emails to the President, and almost all of them tell us how proud they are to be a Terp," says University Director of Marketing Deborah Wiltrout.

Now even the Chronicle of Higher Education has taken note. Reporter Jeffrey R. Young points to Maryland's holiday video card as a prime example of what universities are doing to create some positive buzz about their institution. And Collegewebeditor.com calls it "a refreshing spin on the tradition" of sending out holiday cards.