The Morning 350 People Started Dancing, Commuting Became a Celebration / T-Mobile "Dance"

The problem

At the time, T-Mobile was the fourth-biggest player in the industry. The product wasn't bad, but the brand's personality wasn't getting through, and ads that just explained pricing plans had stopped working. On top of that, the financial crisis meant people were holding onto their wallets tightly. It was in this environment that T-Mobile put forward the idea "Life's for Sharing."

The insight

Stop talking about the brand in ads, and instead create an event that people actually want to share. Flash mobs were just starting to spread on social media at the time—the key move here was that instead of simply borrowing that phenomenon, the brand became the flash mob itself.

The idea

Out of 10,000 people who auditioned, 350 dancers were chosen and secretly placed throughout the station, filmed with 10 hidden cameras. Eight songs were strung together, ranging from disco to ballroom, and rehearsals were held in the middle of the night. The footage was edited in 36 hours and aired on TV as is.

What happened

At the end of the commercial, instead of sending people to a web store, it pointed them to YouTube. That lit the fuse: views passed 25 million, and word of mouth more than doubled. In a year of recession, handset sales rose 22% and revenue grew 52% year over year. The campaign also won awards at Cannes, including in the Film category.

Afterthought

No talk of pricing plans at all—just 350 people dancing, and sales went up. It feels like watching the exact moment advertising stopped "telling" and started "making things happen." The midnight rehearsals and the 10 hidden cameras—it was all in service of those three minutes.

Awards

• Cannes Lions Gold 2009

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