Guerilla marketing has long been in the dictionary of every marketer who is trying to think outside the box.
We often discuss notions of life imitating art and art imitating life but fail to notice how marketing imitates art for use as an extension of the bigger communication strategy.
Flashmobs are the latest kind of art to have become quite the marketing novelty – even though the concept was popularized three years ago. The idea of a flashmob is to use the public space and daily life as center stage and to encourage regular individuals to use the medium as a means of escaping the tedium of daily life, as its creator Charlie Todd explained in a recent TED talk. The flashmob reminds us old, grumpy people that it’s okay to play and that sometimes we shouldn’t take ourselves so seriously. Once the idea of the flashmob went viral, groups of people around the world started to repeat it. Individuals who otherwise had nothing in common would gather together just to make a statement of solidarity or just for fun.
Of course the companies took notice.
The most recent flashmob event in the UAE was put together by healthcare and pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, to mark World Diabetes Day and the launch of its Changing Diabetes Village. Hundreds of dancers took to the stage at Mall of the Emirates on December 5. “The dance will depict diabetes’ ‘rule of halves’,” Mads Bo Larsen, vice president of Novo Nordisk’s Africa, Arabian Gulf and India Offices, told Communicate’s sister website Kippreport. “Worldwide, only half of people with diabetes are diagnosed. Of that figure, only half are treated. And of those treated, only half are treated properly.”
The idea behind a flashmob is that it’s a surprise designed to get the public’s attention – which is certain to happen when a large group of people suddenly forms seemingly out of nowhere. In that sense, Novo Nordisk’s initiative was only kind of a flashmob: the dancers were volunteers of all ages (which is always great), but they were drawn from a local dance group, as the company had to take into account local restrictions to such spontaneous events. And prior to the performance a crowd gathered around the performance area with their cameras in tow, so it wasn’t entirely a surprise.
The problem is, as flashmobs come to be sponsored events rather than grassroots initiatives, there’s a risk that the public may become inured to them, and they will lose their power to command the attention of consumers. Perhaps that point has already arrived, in which case marketers should start thinking about what other forms of art can be appropriated in aid of communication.
However, this flashmob was for a good cause. Diabetes awareness is important, especially in the UAE, where 19.5 percent of people in the 20-79 age group are afflicted with it as of 2007. This figure is likely to increase to 21.9 percent by 2025, according to a report from the UAE Ministry of Health.
At Novo Nordisk’s stand at Mall of the Emirates, people could get a quick blood sugar level test while learning about the many aspects of diabetes. The Village has been doing the rounds in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman. Larsen says the flashmob is expected “to entice people to come to our stand and get checked at our stall.”
The operation clearly achieved this objective. When Communicate visited there were hordes of people at the stand.