The Flash Mob Got a Feeling

Today was the 24^th season premiere for The Oprah Winfrey Show.  The Black Eyed Peas performed their newest song and number one single, “I Got a Feeling,” on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.  At first, for a good ten seconds of more, not a single person in the audience even moved.  I thought, uh oh Oprah’s show is going to need to do some damage control since this will hurt the Peas’ reputation.  And then it happened…a flash mob…hands down the best publicity stunt!

A flash mob is when a large group of people get together in a public space and perform an unusual action to gain intrigue and pique interest from the public.  You may recall T-Mobile incorporates flash mob tactics in their ad campaigns.  I would have loved to have orchestrated today’s performance on Oprah – it was so creative and full of energy.

Check out today’s performance on YouTube, “OPRAH (TV) FlashMob 24th Season Kickoff & "How Did They Do That" aired 9/10/09.”

Oprah’s PR team must have had the most fun with this flash mob initiative.  How did they pull it off?  Oprah’s team hired a famous choreographer, 20 professional dancers and recruited 800 Oprah fans on Facebook and Twitter to participate in the dance lessons beforehand.  Not to mention block off Michigan Avenue, as well as spend a pretty penny.  At the event, these 821 dancers were able to inspire the 21,000 people in attendance to follow their moves to make the largest flash mob ever performed in the world.  Now that’s the way to generate momentum for your 24^th season…not that Oprah needs help in the popularity department.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T22VEBznFVo&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egather%2Ecom%2FviewArticle%2Eaction%3FarticleId%3D281474977807960%26grpId%3D3659174697244816&feature=player_embedded