Flash Mobs
I think this is brilliant. T-Mobile’s new campaign, Lifes For Sharing hosted a Flash Mob in the Liverpool Street Station. A flash mob is a staged event that involves a large group of people publicly and suddenly assembling to execute a particular activity. They often take place in a large crowded area like a train station, major park, or city-center.
After doing some research I learned that there’s quite a few great examples of flash mobs. Some include silent raves held in NYC ( hundreds of people danced to the same song with listening to it on their ipod) and a massive pillow fight in the center of Toronto.
Flash mobs started as social experiements, but are today being used by marketers because of their unique and disruptive nature. Below is the video for T-Mobiles Campaign. Take a look at it and then think about why its so successful.
If I were waiting to catch my train and this just broke out around me, my natural instinct would be to grab my phone and start calling friends- just like many people themselves did in the video. After that, you’d have to take a picture so you could show them later when they didn’t believe you. What a great way to prompt product use! The idea Lifes For Sharing expresses the innate role of mobile technology- communication and connectivity. But rather than telling people that, let them prove you right by invoking that reaction.
Additionally, the stunt acts almost like a PR event; it garnered attention of the surrounding people, but the value of it extended far beyond Liverpool. The video has over 10 million views on YouTube and has been circulating around email.
Flash mobs are an exciting, unusual and innovative stunt that I see offering great value to many brands.
