The thing that gets me with flash mob videos is everyone is repeating everyone else. How many of these videos have you seen filmed inside colleges, or inside train stations? How many scream choreography vs people apparently doing the same thing spontaneously?

It's for this reason I'm thrilled how Grand Rapids, Michigan is reinventing the video. Take a look at http://youtu.be/ZPjjZCO67WI for instance which was uploaded seven months ago and already has over 4 million views. But beyond the numbers, the way it was produced represents a new genre in filmmaking. Watch it and you'll see what I mean because you won't find any other videos like it (other than the production company's earlier ventures).

Great article. And the video is well-made. As an SEO, I can only think of the amount of link equity 900,000 views could create - even though the video is posted on YouTube. Translation, any and all types of traffic can be monetized, you just have to know how to use it. Every flash mob strategy should come with a solid promotion plan, as well as with a clearly defined set of macro & micro conversion ideas (aka how to monetize).

It appears that Carlson didn't optimize their YouTube page or website to take advantage of this insane amount of traffic, but it doesn't mean that this flash mob wasn't a good idea.

Arik,

I like this idea if it's part of an overall plan that uses other mediums as well to communicate the brand. If this was the one and only piece of the plan, than I agree with your post. But do we know that was the case? Did Jennifer have that insight when she made her post?

Obviously, they did this with the intention of it being viral. What I'd be curious to know is what else they're doing in conjunction with the video element.

Pat

I think my problem with flash mobs is, as you mentioned, that they're becoming more of a "let's make a viral video" strategy than a goal- and results-driven strategy. And I think the bigger problem with that lies in the fact that, for every "viral" flash mob video that blows up online, there are probably several dozen (hundred? thousand?) each year that go absolutely nowhere, and nobody mentions those when they're "planning" their supposed soon-to-be-viral video.

I sort of see flash mobs in the same way people talk about plane crashes. For the thousands of planes that take off and land every day around the world, very, very few of them crash. But as soon as one does crash, the media goes crazy and many people's fear of flying increases, even if it is only for a short while.

The same thing seems to happen with flash mobs (and viral videos in general). I would imagine a substantial number of them are produced and posted on YouTube with minimal results (my alma mater did one last year or two years ago that didn't really blow up outside of the college community...and saying it "blew up" there would definitely be a stretch), but as soon as one does get popular and gets featured on Good Morning America, everybody assumes theirs will do exactly the same thing. Why? Because they never see/hear/read about all of the flash mob videos that never blow up and get popular (kind of like people who get freaked out by plane crashes stop rationally considering the unbelievable number of successful takeoffs and landings that happen every day).

Every day I read blog posts mentioning that Flash websites are a thing of the past (or at least will be very soon if they aren't already). I'd imagine--hope maybe?--it won't be long before flash mobs go the same route as Flash websites.

Exactly. Agencies have brands saying, "We want to do a flash mob," and should do a better job pushing back -- asking, "Why? What is the objective?" This is a years-old trend. Instead, why not be innovative? Set an objective and come up with a creative way to garner attention -- not reinvention of yesterday's meme.