Great Social Media Idea: Happy Birthday Video

Late on the post today... went to watch my beloved Blazers get absolutely housed by the Memphis Grizzlies last night. Sigh.

Gotta make this quick, so I'll cut right to the chase: The University of Virginia made a video of various faculty, staff, and students singing Happy Birthday, and has been sending it out to alumni on their birthdays.

Check it out here:

Your U.Va. Wahoo Family would like to wish you a happy birthday. Hope you have a wonderful day and year! Video by aashish edakadampil Featuring: The U.Va. Cheerleading Squad Joanne Boyle, Coach of the Women's Basketball Team Larry Sabato, Director of the Center for Politics Pat Lampkin, Vice President and Chief Student Affairs Officer Robert Pianta, Dean of the Curry School of Education Dorrie Fontaine, Dean of the School of Nursing Kim Tanzer, Dean of the School of Architecture James Aylor, Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Rita Dove, Professor of English The Hullabahoos Teresa Sullivan, President of the University of Virginia Kenneth Elzinga, Professor of Economics and Tony Bennett, Coach of the Men's Basketball Team

I found out about it because a co-worker of mine's wife is a UVA alumna, and she liked the video so much that he shared it with us on the marketing side of things:

Today's my wife's birthday and she got this from UVA... It is a neat Birthday wish from the University.   

She is not what you would call a hard core alum but she loved it.

As you can see from the comments on the video, my co-worker's wife wasn't the only one who love it - there's lots of great support from other alumni.

Anyway, normally I wax poetic for a while about why this is a great idea, but I think this one speaks for itself - it's just a nice, unexpected little touch that is sweet and heartfelt.

Well done, Cavaliers!