Flash exit – the reverse of a flash mob – gives one O2 customer in London the surprise of her life

Pd3, the London-based experience led creative agency, has teamed up with O2 to launch a 60″ TV spot featuring music star Tinie Tempah in a daring campaign designed to give one O2 customer the surprise of their life.

The activity is the first known example of a ‘flash exit’ – the reverse of a flash mob – designed to spontaneously empty busy public spaces in seconds. The flash exit was created as part of O2’s Thinking of You campaign, aimed at showing customers how valued they are by O2.

VIEW THE SPOT

Created by Pd3, the flash exit was screened in a special 60 second ad in two spots on Saturday 23rd April during ITV1’s hit show, Britain’s Got Talent, and Channel 4’s popular game show, Million Pound Drop Live. A four minute behind the scenes documentary revealing how the ‘flash exit’ was created is also available to view online.

In the meticulously planned performance, Katie Hobbs, 23 from Southampton, was picked from thousands of hopefuls who applied via Facebook to participate in what was billed as ‘a live video performance’. What began as an intimate gig for 400 fans was transformed in a matter of seconds into the most exclusive concert the pop superstar has ever played.

Thanks to perfect planning by a team of 70 crew members over a two week period, 399 fans departed the venue in a single spontaneous flash exit, leaving an unsuspecting and shell-shocked Katie to enjoy a dedicated, one-on-one performance of Tinie’s latest single, Wonderman.

The flash exit performance was filmed at the O2 Islington Academy and directed by renowned documentary maker Phil Griffin whose past credits include TV documentaries for music A-listers Britney Spears and Jon Bon Jovi.

Phil Griffin, director; said: “Everything we did on the day was carefully planned and everything we achieved was a result of that planning. The real conclusion to this whole creative process is that Katie, our chosen one, had a real genuine once in a lifetime experience. The fact that we were able to capture the moment everything was revealed and see that authentic reaction on Katie’s face made all the hard work worthwhile.”

This multi-faceted campaign also included digital recruitment activity to source the Tinie Tempah fans, post-event social media seeding as well as an interactive viral and Facebook activity.

Mo Saha, creative planning director at Pd3, said: “02 challenged us to take the long running ‘thinking of you’ campaign to the next level. We wanted to create a personalised experience that demonstrated the unimaginable lengths O2 will go to to do something amazing for one customer.”

Creative agency: Pd3, London

Audio post-production: Nick Harris @ Tamborine Productions