“An American Anthem” and YouTube

Ten year ago– in a simpler time– we produced a three-screen meeting opener for Walgreens called "An American Anthem." It was a celebration of Americana, which– after 3 minutes of history, pageantry, and patriotism– lead into a live singing of the National Anthem, followed by a rousing on-screen finale featuring the Blue Angels, fireworks and flag-waving, while on-stage, a nice pyrotechnic "kaboom" buttoned the whole thing up and lead to rousing applause.

It was produced fairly generically– without real branding other than a pairing of the United States and Walgreens flags in the final moments. Given that, we thought it might be worth making it available to other companies and groups who needed a nice, affordable, ready-to-go opener. So we converted it to single screen, took out the minute and a half orchestral accompaniment used by the live singer, and put it on a website and uploaded it to what was then the fairly new YouTube.

It got a fair number of viewings, but because viewers can leave comments, it also sparked a spirited discussion about politics, war, and the post-911 world.

Well, at least it got a response. If you’d like, go to this page at YouTube, have a look-see, and let us know what you think. Is this kind of statement appropriate for the post-911 world, or does it need to be tempered or modified to fly today? (It is video and is easily modified.)

And it still is available for rental…… (grin).