Jill and Kevin’s ‘Best Wedding Entrance Ever’ sensation
August 5, 2009Last week we, like many others, posted Jill Peterson and Kevin Heinz’s ‘Best Wedding Entrance Ever’ on our website, sharing the grin-inducing Youtube video when it only had a few hundred views. Since then it has become an online sensation, with over 15 million views, has pushed the song back into the Top 10, and generated a lot of income.
This evolution of ‘Best Wedding Entrance Ever’ from homemade video to viral sensation to internet cash cow is fascinating, and I thought I would share some links today:
(If you haven’t seen the video, take a look)
The first viewers on Youtube universally loved the video, but a negative commentary soon developed – an online backlash to the Chris Brown song ‘Forever’. Brown has most recently been in the news for his physical violence against his girlfriend, pop star Rihanna, and a song by him at a wedding seemed, at best, insensitive. It turned out that the Minneapolis wedding had actually taken place before Brown’s shameful assault, but – ironically enough – this wedding video has pushed ‘Forever’ back into the charts.
A few months ago, the music industry was caught unprepared when Susan Boyle’s performance of ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ went viral on Youtube; millions of performances of a song that earned no income. This time, they were ready – when ‘Best Wedding Entrance Ever’ started gathering massive attention, the record company stepped in and monetized the video – it could only remain on Youtube if it had a ‘Click-to-Buy’ link, encouraging viewers to download the song or video from iTunes.
The results are amazing. ‘Forever’ went to #4 on the iTunes singles chart and #3 on Amazon’s best selling MP3 list! (For more about this, you can read ‘I now pronounce you monetized‘ on the google blog.)
Jill & Kevin responded quickly to the issue of domestic violence raised by the video. Putting together the website ‘jkWeddingDance‘ , they publicised and requested donations for the Sheila Wellstone institute, a pro-active organization founded to ensure that ending violence against women and children is a national priority.
Meanwhile, Jill & Kevin’s new-found fame attracted the attention of the ‘Today Show’, which asked them to re-enact their wedding entrance live. They agreed, and all their friends and family who appear in the video were flown to New York, where they all performed outdoors – you can see it here
(Afterwards, they were interviewed – you can read it here)
By boogie-ing down the aisles, Jill & Kevin created an internet sensation, earned Chris Brown and his record company a small fortune, generated donations for a worthy charity, and became minor celebrities. Doubtlessly they have inspired other engaged couples to ponder how they can enhance the exuberance and joy of their own wedding, by modifying customary rituals; and doubtless some are wondering how they too can monetize their wedding using such social media as Youtube.
I hope you have enjoyed this fascinating story as much as we have!