Influx

Flash Mobs were all the rage about 2 years ago and then they quietly disappeared, as people got bored of the idea. The point was that they were a grassroots phenomenon created by people for their entertainment.

Note the Wikipedia entry for Flash Mobs that features the following account:

“In August 2003, a flash mob gathered at an Oxfam charity shop in Birmingham. The group stripped off their clothes and waved them above their heads while singing “Give it Away” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and donated their clothes to the store. This event was described as being “the world’s first altruistic mob.”

Now Ford has now co-opted the idea as its own to promote the Ford Fusion.The only problem is that Ford is using the terminology to add some cool to something that’s nothing more than a secret concert promotion. It hardly qualifies as a pointless, spontaneous gathering of people.

The company is happily banding around terms like Mash-Ups and Flash Mobs because they believe they sound cool, rather than bothering to understand if they are relevant to their core target.

One of the major problems for Ford is that many teens would want to attend a secret free concert, but how many really want to participate in a Flash Mob?