Flash mobs, the new brand trend?

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Posted By Neoco

Flash mobs are no new thing, and are a child of Web 2.0, however recently, brands have started using it to promote its own products and services. The most famous in the UK being the T-mobile advert in Liverpool Street.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=nl&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

The TV Ad complimented the web aspect, but was really only a teaser for the full clip, which required user interaction.

Recently in The Netherlands, this trend has continued with, an equally amazing performance in Antwerp.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=nl&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
Our view? Events like this are great for exposure and creating buzz but also deliver some great branded content. Here at Neoco, we love events like this, and being specialists in Social Media we can help make them happen – giving your audience a new reason to talk about and engage with your brand.

Tags dance Flash Flash mob Flashmob fun How many people can do the twist in liverpool street? Mob Musical Random station

http://www.liveunion.co.uk jez paxman

Yup. Totally agree with what you are saying about live and digital working together. Can’t help thinking that these spectacle type ads would be more interesting if some of them were real and not stage. Wrote something along these lines here
http://jezpaxman.blogspot.com/2009/02/real-events.html
http://stoplooklistenmusic.blogspot.com Coxy

The T-Mobile campaign is starting to upset me a lot. So you created a Flash Mob at Liverpool Street Station. Woop.

I loved the idea, but I loathe the arrogance of the accompanying comms. For me, they achieve nothing more than ramming the vision of the Creative Director down the throats of the consumer.

The radio executions are simply gut-wrenching – voxpops of people so overwhelmed by the event that they need to immediately contact everybody they’ve ever met and share it. Okay, maybe I would’ve done had I been there at the time – fair enough. However, as a prospective T-Mobile customer engaged with one of their radio ads, do I really need to know what Deidre from Harrow thought of the whole thing? Isn’t this just the brand’s way of trying to convince themselves that smashing £x million on one TV ad was a good idea?

The whole campaign now sits very uncomfortably with me. I think the execution and the subsequent press and PR activity generated was phenomenal, but it now feels comparable to when a mate picks up on a good joke and then just spreads it so thin that it becomes unfunny. I guess I just wish Saatchi had negotiated a bit more cash for the rest of the comms…

Coxy.

Neoco