Take a Sad Song and Make it Worse?

Trafalger Square, London, UK
Telecom giant T-Mobile recently staged a pseudo Flash Mob marketing spectacle in London. I was there to witness the sneaky shenanigans orchestrated by agency Saatchi and Saatchi where they pulled off an ad scheme/event that was part Web 2.0, part media, part guerilla, part interactive, part show, part event, part viral - and part disturbing!

At 7:10pm, Thursday, April 30, I ascended from London's tube at Trafalgar Square station to find 13,000 people singing the refrain from Beatles' Hey Jude. "Na, na, na, na na na naaaaaa, na na na naaaaaa, Hey Jude!" Caught off-guard by the spectacle, I found myself in a dream - what could be more London? What crazy vortex did I step into? But in front of the crowd was no staged Beatlemania band, just a stadium-sized karaoke screen with song lyrics. Thousands gleefully and mindlessy sang; hundreds into microphones (some reportedly fake). US popstar Pink even showed up, er was hired, to sing-along. And then I noticed large camera booms swinging over the audience. Something was amiss. It was too orchestrated. The dream evaporated the next morning when my suspected fears were confirmed and learned it was a staged promotional flash mob "karaoke" event hosted by global telecom giant T-Mobile.

I learned this was the followup of their "successful" Liverpool Station flash mob last February which became a viral marketing hit ala youtube. At the Liverpool gig 400 dancers (who rehearsed for a month) appeared at the station in disguised randomness and performed a pre-choreographed dance, capturing unsuspecting passerbys "in the moment" as they hastily texted event images to friends afar - all while being filmed by hidden cameras and later posted online. (In the "making of" video, producers even wholly admitted "as soon as the public spots a camera, game over".) How sneaky is that?

During April's latest event, thousands descended on central London after T-Mobile posted a youtube teaser, distributed flyers, and texted those who carry their service. And yes! The lemmings amassed! Whereas the Liverpool Station spectators were unwillingly ensnared into a promotional event, this "Hey Jude" shindig brought the willing onto the camera screen in some faux feel-good sentimental aura. The next day, the local media fawned all over it. Participants talked about the "once in a lifetime event", posted videos, texted friends. Bingo! All free viral advertising. Keeping the momentum going, Saatchie edited their footage in 48 hours and showed a 30 second spot during Saturday's #1 TV show "Britain's Got Talent". Within a week, the subway advertisement video screens were aglow with 10 second spots of the event. All under the T-Mobile tagline "Life's For Sharing!" smartly tapping into social marketing trends - we're all connected - right?

As a 2009 marketing tool, yes, the event was a successful awareness campaign: part human, part Web 2.0, part mobile, part guerilla, part interactive, part show, part event, part viral.
And part disturbing.

Yes, they effectively moved beyond static "Us to You" campaigns. Kudos for that! But it somehow appeared hollow, lacking honesty and sincerity. They used the zeitgeist of Flash Mobs and tainted it. In an age when consumers see through marketing manipulation, I'm surprised so many fell for this. But perhaps that's London for you. It was a participatory event where OZ willingly revealed himself pulling all the levers of what was really a controlled media experiment.

Yes, Life IS for Sharing. But for a marketing event? A sign of things to come.