A parody of the 1996 hit single “No Diggity” by the R&B group Blackstreet has been rearranged into a new video called “Dog Doogity.”
Wanna guess what the video is about?
Produced for the campaign “Puget Sound Starts Here,” the video — posted last night — delivers a clear message about picking up dog waste: Just DOO it!
Three men who grew up together in Seattle and are now based in San Francisco produced the video, which shows a series of people walking their dogs in familiar locations around Seattle, Tacoma and Everett. The animals leave behind little surprises, which provokes singer Martin Luther (McCoy) to rush in with a plastic bag, a song and a smile.
“It was really fulfilling for three Seattle guys to do something that was a lot of fun and beneficial to our hometown,” said Peter Furia, one of three producers for the company called Seedwell. The others are Beau Lewis and David Fine. All will be 30 this year.
Lewis wrote the lyrics for “Dog Doogity” with a little help from his friends. Check it out:
In the rain, it’s a good day
Each and every day, the Northwest way
The girl and her dog, they were fine (wow)
Until they left a doodie, that’s a crime (bow wow)
Furia said the campaign started when the three men were approached by public relations expert Bob Frause, who helped develop the “Puget Sound Starts Here” campaign.
They were asked to develop a video suitable for YouTube viewers, generally a younger audience. They could choose any of the three messages being promoted by the campaign: 1) Wash your car in a carwash, where dirty water won’t wash down the storm drain; 2) Be careful with your use of lawn chemicals; or 3) Pick up after your dog when Mother Nature calls.
The choice was easy, Furia said. “We knew that dog doo was going to be the most suitable for the online video space.”
Lewis remembered the Blackstreet song and thought it would make a great tune to spoof.
“We removed the rap verse and just did the R&B parts,” Furia said. “We wanted it to be shorter and sweeter.”
With a background in music production, the three produced a high-quality sound with original instrumentation by Jeff Kite. The song sounds great through high-quality headphones.
Luther, an actor as well as a singer, really got into the project, according to Furia. “He’d been to Seattle a couple of times and thought the project was fun and funny, and he owns a dog, a mastiff.”
Unfortunately, they couldn’t get Luther’s dog transported to Seattle in time to perform in the video, but the other dogs DOO quite well on cue.
I can’t forget to mention the dance routine, created by Paul Benshoof as an imitation of the funky dancers from the original video. Of course, the full dance number could not fit on the video, but the producers saved it to a separate video for those who want more. Outtakes can be viewed on a third video.
The $40,000 song and video production is part of the $500,000 “Puget Sound Starts Here” campaign, which is spanning over 18 months with numerous radio and television spots along with newspaper and online ads.
Some 81 cities and counties involved in the campaign have organized into seven teams, each of which will receive a portion of the money for efforts in their local communities. In Kitsap County, bus ads will focus on pollution messages.
Suzi Wong Swint of Snohomish County, a leader in the “Puget Sound Starts Here” campaign, said she expects the video will get a lot of viewers.
“Everyone from all the jurisdictions really like it, “ she said.
Nobody seems to know if the original members of Blackstreet have seen the video, but Furia says it is all in good fun. Since “Dog Doogity” is an obvious parody, a commentary on the original, copyright is not an issue, he said.
