About 3 weeks ago (January 15), over 200 people burst into spontaneous dance in London’s Liverpool Street Train station. It was a viral marketing campaign created by Saatchi & Saatchi for T-Mobile (Hey, “Saatchi & Saatchi” there’s another tough to pronounce brand name!)
Watch the video, if you’re not dead you’ll smile. Don’t miss the Umbrella Ladies at about 1:30 and Mr. Big Hair at 1:40 and finally Shopping Lady at 1:55.
Don’t you wish you’d been commuting through the station that Thursday? Would you have jumped in? Would you have kept on trudging so you wouldn’t be late for work? Or would you have shared in two and half minutes of fun and abandon? Me? I’d have been Mr. Bad Dancing Bald Guy (with a big grin).
We’re all still sorting out how social media works in the nonprofit space, especially the Christian ministry space. But one thing I understand about social media is that it connects us in uniquely, powerful ways. We share our lives—T-Mobile would be so proud of me for saying this—but it’s true.
Today at Oneicity, we’ve had engaging conversations with people all over the country about brand-theory, video for a project in Haiti, tipjar theory, the best Mac video editing software and the genius of William Booth—all using social media tools. Connections like this wouldn’t have happened so quickly or so easily without these new cool tools.
Keep exploring social media. Think outside the box. Experiment. Ignore what “they” say and jump in. It’ll be a bit like dancing in the Liverpool Train Station. Some people will sit back and watch. Some will criticize you for your bad moves. But some will join you in the dance—and those are the ones to hang with!
C’mon, dance!! Who knows, maybe you’ll be the next General Booth.
Here’s a question: would you have danced in Liverpool?
Steve Thomas
Partner, Oneicity
