Tuesday, April 23, 2013

FLASH MOB AND ADVERTISING, A SOCIAL MEDIA PUSH?

FLASH MOB AND ADVERTISING, A SOCIAL MEDIA PUSH?



Is there an actual way to make Flash Mobs marketing effective? Are we talking about a regular mass media tool that becomes effective only when it comes to putting your message "out there"?



By Ricardo Triana Creative Director and Web Designer. email: ricardo@trianaasociados.com



According to Bill Wasik, a senior editor of Harpers Magazine, who has been wrongly accused of being the "provocateur behind the Great Flash Mob Craze of 2003," Flash Mobs are probably not marketing-effective tools that allow you to get your message out there. Mr. Wasik sees a role for viral ads in marketing "products with an inherently viral appeal--video games, rock bands, movies like 'The Blair Witch Project.'" However, this role is not that feasible in brands that are reliable and trustworthy. (http://adage.com/bookstore/post?article_id=138314)



Although defining Flash Mob is not that simple, since it has become a quite interesting globalized social phenomenon, it is important to define it in order to understand it. For this purpose, the first thing I instinctively did was to google it under the search criteria: "What is a Flash Mob". Amazingly, I came across a few solid definitions in a set of almost 40 results, which corresponded to the first two- google pages.



According to the first definition, "A flash mob (or flashmob) is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse. The term flash mob is generally applied only to gatherings organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails. The term is generally not applied to events organized by public relations firms or as publicity stunts."



The second significant result defined it as follows: "USF_FlashMob_RC_4.iso (230 MB) is a bug fix release. This contains updates that we made to the server code the night before flashmob day. This will allow power users to run larger flashmobs and configure individual nodes with different processor types. In addition we have released the source code for USF_FlashMob_RC_4 (source)."



The third most informal one, defined Flash Mob as "a group of people who appear from out of nowhere, to perform predetermined actions, designed to amuse and confuse surrounding people. The group performs these actions for a short amount of time before quickly dispersing. Flash mobs are often organized through email and/or newsgroup postings."



The question is: Can Flash Mob be only that?: "A group of people who appear from out of nowhere, to perform predetermined actions, designed to amuse and confuse surrounding people"? Hmmm, I do not think so. If we look at it from the marketing perspective, our view might change a little. What if we start by defining it as a marketing/advertising tool or just as a tool, which utilizes big budgets, both for financial and logistic purposes?



We could say that Flash Mobs started as a very Indy "Social Media Push" where a big congregation of people achieved immediate and very effective media attention. That is indeed a very solid starting point.



Maybe, one of the most interesting and effective Flash Mobs, so far, was a Facebook initiative that congregated over 20 million people all around the world against the terrorist organization F.A.R.C. (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia). On February 4th 2008, thousands of Colombians marched around the world. Cities such as Bogota, New York, Madrid, Paris, London, and Caracas witnessed a massive protest against F.A.R.C, which by that time had held as political and war prisoners ?for over a decade? more than 41 Colombians and at least three American citizens,



This "Flash Mob" managed not only to unite millions of people around the world towards one particular cause, but it also managed to globally dismantle the "political speech" developed by F.A.R.C. over the past decade or more. After this episode, F.A.R.C. debilitated politically and militarily. This was one of the most effective hits on the oldest guerrila movement in the world.



So let's talk about the effectiveness aqcuired through Facebook by one single person, who with no financial or political backup managed to render the meaningless Lenininst/Marxist Political strategy in just one day. We are talking about a strategy that had worked so well domestically as internationally for the F.A.R.C., and which had been ?and still is?silently approved by the European Community. There was no need for big advertisement budgets. No media craze. No celebrity endorsement or political lobbying. Just one guy, an angry one, decided to log on to his facebook account and try no make his message to be heard by a few. He unawarely changed the history of a country. Imagine what can happen if a whole organization decides to get it together, spend the right amount of time and money into a Flash Mob/Media Push to design a creative and yet very effective campaign. Just imagine the results.



But, why is this thing so effective? Why did it change the political landscape of a country? Why are Flash Mobs changing the way we see things? Because these are politically correct! It hits you where it should, it is the perfect "out on the streets", "baby kisser" approach that has being so effective for politicians all around the world. Why is it that every time we see a guy on TV, with his sleeves rolled up, talking to the crowd, we just melt? Because it hits that soft spot, the one that makes us feel that everything might be just right; that there is hope; and that we must fight for it! These movements are very effective in targeting an audience and affecting it all the way down to their core.



Another great Flash Mob example was the Black Eyed Peas´ appearance on Oprah´s Season´s Kick-Off on September 8th of this year. Perfect media mix: a radio/club hit by an internationally known and successful pop band, plus one of the most viewed TV shows in the history of the US. Around 10.000 people performed one gigantic choreography following Black Eyed Peas super 2009 hit "I got a Feeling". This Flash Mob cruised around Youtube for about 4 weeks (all around the globe,) giving birth to "flash mobs international". And well....did it work? Of course it did!



But, are Flash Mobs effective? Do they work? Can we make them work for all universe of brands? Unfortunately, no. Let's make a comparative exercise with two very different Flash Mobs. Black Eyed Peas Oprah Winfrey´s Season´s Kick-Off 2009 and T-Mobile's Life's for sharing - London's Liverpool Street Station Dance.



From a creative point of view, these two Flash Mobs are very effective. Black Eyed Peas´ Flash Mob, with a specific soundtrack manages to generate a "wave sensation" that grows continually as the song reaches its peak. With the Flash Mob reaching its peak, the public rides along and gets caught in this "wave sensation". T-Mobile´s Life's for sharing - London's Liverpool Street Station Dance handles quite effectively a surprise element and an unexpected finale with a total disintegration of a massive choreography. By the end of the ad you start to get the whole "Life's for sharing" approach due to the continuous shots of innocent bystanders taking pictures with their mobile devices. But is it really "brand effective" to have such a huge display of choreography and logistics for a global approach for a brand or should it be targeted specially to one specific product or service, so that you could create some kind of relationship between the AD, the product and the viewer?



Will this Ad give T-mobile some big airtime numbers for youtube.com and other social networks? Of course, it will. But will it give them enough air time to convert this numbers into web site hits? Can this Ad work as a "call to action" to bring customers to your phone lines? Stores? WebSites? Maybe not. But can it work for a not so global and maybe lighter brand such as Black Eyed Peas?. I think it does! This AD gave the Black Eyed Peas some spectacular airtime on Youtube, which was followed by a dramatic increase on the visitors to their website and social network spaces. They had the public talking about the video, and boosted airtime on radio and night- clubs. This was a creative reinforcement for the bands brand name on the internet. So will a Flash Mob Ad create such a buzz for a household brand such as T-Mobile that can potentially boost their internet sales? Off course not! The answer relies in the fact that we are talking about an intangible asset that needs no financial investment for the audience because it moves itself in a cost-free media, where everyone can post a message, an image, or a video advertising. So what do the Colombian Flash Mob and the Black Eyed Peas have in common? They both creatively targeted their audiences in a creative media. Both were looking for an immediate response. Both moved masses of targeted audiences towards a common effort, which was rewarded in various ways. That is what makes the T-Mobile Ad so different from the other two flash mob examples. Maybe T-Mobile can reward their customers (after experiencing some kind of Flash Mobile Advertising) with products or services that will achieve some mid and long term effects. However, a non- household brand such as Black Eyed Peas can allure their followers with something that will touch their heart and make them react immediately in a known consumer-environment such as tuning in a radio station, playing a specific song, or just making a big deal out of a particular song being played on a Night Club. Can a brand like T-Mobile do this? That is yet to be decided.



Ricardo Triana Creative Director and Web Designer.

email: ricardo@trianaasociados.com



TRIANA & ASOCIADOS, Colombia.

Video Source: Youtube

No comments:

Post a Comment