An Irish Flashmob

Where's Wally Flash Mob.

In our last Blog entry, Saint Patrick's Day: March 17th Marketing Madness, we went into some detail about the various digital and viral activities around the Saint Patrick's period. These included the "greening" of various historical landmarks around the world by Tourism Ireland, the various social media campaigns by Guinness, Jameson and Baileys, and the Sydney Irish dancing flash mob. This flash mob went on to become one of the major success stories for Tourism Ireland's Saint Patrick's global advertising campaigns. As was discussed in the blog entry the flash mob became a viral sensation and was well received  by the viral marketing community. In the last number of years, flash mobs have become one of the defacto means of attaining viral success at a minimum cost. Although popular in the USA and mainland Europe, for amateurs and professionals alike,the flash mob has not been fully embraced in Ireland but there have been some examples of its application here over the last number of years.

Bill Wasik

The concept of the flash mob has been credited to Bill Wasik who was the senior editor of Harper's Magazine at the time. The first one was organised in 2003 but had initial teething problems such as the targeted store being tipped off about the event in advance. To avoid any leaking of information, on the second attempt, Wasik used a preliminary staging area for participants where they would receive further instructions. The second attempt, with its additional staging precautions, was a massive success both from an operational perspective and for generating buzz around the principle idea. The principle behind Wasik's flash mob idea was to highlight the need for certain groups to be seen as insiders or part of the next big thing. The mobs started as a kind of playful social experiment meant to encourage spontaneity and big gatherings to temporarily take over commercial and public areas simply to show that they could. 

In an age where user generated content is king, the ability to arrange an almost ready made viral video has enabled marketers and organisations to latch onto something that is very volatile if not present properly. Here are some examples of some Irish related flash, some you will have seen and some you wish you had.

One of the most well known Irish related flash mobs at present was mentioned in our previous blog entry around the Saint Patrick's day viral activity.The video was made in conjunction with tourism Ireland and Sneaky Steppers from Australia who surprised Commuters in Central Station in Sydney Australia by  performing Irish  dancing in front of them. The flash mob starts off quietly enough before ending up with 100 people performing the Riverdance routine in a grand finale. By the end of March of 2011 the video was in the top 10 most viewed videos on the Contagious Viral chart. 

This year the group focused on the Canadian market place but once more chose to use a flash mob to appeal to the on line communities. A singing and dancing flash mob at Yonge-Dundas Square kick-started Toronto into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit. While people ate lunch on restaurant patios and walked around the area on Friday, the music for Snow Patrol’s song Chasing Cars starts playing and a woman, accompanied by a guitar player, starts singing it for the crowd.It’s not long before another singer joins in on the fun and it becomes apparent to the crowd what’s happening: it’s a flash mob.As more people occupy the square, the flash mob breaks into Van Morrison’s Brown-Eyed Girl. Although not as viral as the 2011 effort yet the potential is still there with it currently having over 50,000 views on youtube.

One of the most recent flash mobs seen on the streets of Dublin in the last month was done for political reasons, to highlight one political parties. The Francesca Arkins School of Dance and Stage join Sinn Féin on Dublin's Mary Street in a 'flash mob' against youth unemployment and mass emigration in Ireland - to the tune of Calvin Harris' Acceptable in the 80s.

The ability of the flash mob to assess how people/society react to situations both real/hypothetical can not be underestimated as with it you gain an understanding of how people/cultures work. As part of Galway Samaritans 24/7 Awareness Day, Samaritan Volunteers, IBM Employees and lots of energetic Friends surprised people on the street with a Zumba Flash mob, bringing smiles to the faces of everyone around them. The event aimed to promote awareness of the helpline which is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week providing emotional support to anyone experiencing feelings of distress or despair.

Another flash mob from 2011 highlights both the spontaneity and organisation that goes into bringing together a memorable event. In October, 2011, hundreds of people from choirs all from all over the country joined forces to sing the Hallelujah Chorus in front of unsuspecting shoppers who were in the Dundrum Town center. The flash mob was the grand finale of RTÉ Big Music Week and was organised by RTÉ Radio 1.

Two further videos showcase how two different brands in Ireland used the flash mob idea to great effect to showcase the launch of new products. As part of the Guinness 250 celebrations, two hundred and fifty 'Paul O'Connell' fans converged in Dublin in an attempt to recreate the now legendary 'Have you put the fear of God in them' speech ahead of Ireland's 6 Nations clash with England. 

While Sony Music Ireland amassed a large gathering of Gleeks to coincide with the launch of "Glee: The Music - Vol 2". Completely different usages of the medium in Ireland but both have received large numbers of views on youtube. 

An unique example of a flash mob from last year was the one to launch a world record attempt for the most people dressed as "Where's Wally" in one location. 150 Flash-Mobbing Wally’s took over the Luas on April 1st 2011 to launch the Street Performers World Championships (SPWC) and the ‘Where’s Wally World Record’ which took place took place at their 2011 event.

World Record Where's Wally attempt Dublin 2011

The most recent example of the medium being used as a social experiment can be seen in viral video Caine's Arcade. The principle idea behind the mob was to reward a young arcade entrepreneur by getting him some customers for his cardboard arcade. Since the video of the mob was released over the weekend a scholarship fund for the star of the video has surpassed the $100,000 mark. 

Caine Monroy 

The flash mob, if used properly, can be a great medium to get across a companies ideas or a social message.   In the case of the mob that took place in Galway it was to promote the Samaritans, Guinness to launch their 250th anniversary celebrations and Sony used the medium to promote the a new CD release.In Ireland the application of the flash mob is still a developing tool. Although many observers believe that its use is becoming passe with many of the above showing the dance arrangements as the main focus of the mob. The Guinness and Caine's arcade examples show that there are still other applications of flash mobs that can still be applied in Ireland to promote an ideal or cause that can still have an impact on a saturated market place.