Innovative marketing ideas can sometimes be hard to find but the new Flip video camera Bondi Beach Flashmob campaign found me – did it find you?
I first saw it mentioned a couple of weeks ago at mumbrella (Australia’s excellent new-ish marketing industry web site), and copped a fair bit of flack by commenters for being unoriginal and poorly executed. A ‘#fail’ in popular social media speak. The marketing community then waited to see whether this was like many marketing ideas before it: a half-baked attempt at gaining viral status, or would there be more to it?
I didn’t have to wait long. This week I went to see the New Moon movie and one of the ads was a much better produced version of the earlier low quality YouTube Bondi video, complete with branding and call to action. It was quite entertaining and looking around the cinema it had most of the people engaged. I heard a few youg ladies nudging their friends saying “oh watch this, this is cool” so they must have seen it online. The call to action was to visit the web site http://www.doyouflip.com.au/ where you can watch the video again and learn about the product.
The idea of flashmobbing is not original :: my favourites this year included the Romeo and Juliet flashmob organised as a protest by Melbourne VCA students and I CANNOT get enough of watching the one organised for Oprah’s season opener with the Black Eyed Peas (If you have not seen this, cancel all plans for 4 minutes and watch – you will be mesmerised)
So – although flashmobbing is not original, Flip has done a good job, generating substantial publicity, consumer chatter and free online exposure. What else can well executed marketing ideas ask for?
PS – as far as product ideas go, the Flip is an absolute winner! I discovered it a few months ago and haven’t looked back since! You can see the results on my YouTube channel which is full of short interviews with interesting people on how THEY get THEIR ideas.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I must admit, when I saw the Bondi Flash Mob, I thought ‘yeah, whatever’ because I’ve been watching the efforts of Improv Everywhere for years and then been really impressed with the efforts of brands like T-Mobile with their Life’s For Sharing flash-mob inspired campaigns. For me, the Flip execution pales in comparison – it’s just no where near as good as those before it and I think if you’re going to copy an idea, the least you can do is better it in some way.
PS. My fave flash mob is this one – it gives me goosebumps!
I bet just about everyone who witnessed this live has not heard of flashmobbing or seen it before so would get a buzz out of it and tell their friends, who then would piece it together when they see the ad in cinema thus creating more chatter so even though not original it will work well for them. The window is still open for this sort of stuff … just.
PS – i really love the groovy new mast head on this blog!!