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AshevilleDweller:
What matters at the end of the day is that several hundred people had a GREAT EFFING TIME. You can see by the incredible smiles on the faces of all those of who attended – this event was a BLAST!!
Who cares if it was a "flashmob" or not? Who cares if it was 'advertised'?
(and actually, it wasn't – the media decided to post it without the organizer even knowing about it or consenting to it – which is why the FB page was made 'private')
Hope all that making fun of other people is working out for you,
Pillowfighter.
Flash Mob = Dumb played out idea, and its not really "Flash Mob" if it was advertised in the local paper 3 days before the event.
Asheville again Fails at being cool
Lots of different factors.
The success of this event is easy to figure out. In Asheville, if you combine a goofy activity with a leftist (anti-consumerist) political element to an event scheduled on a day that a large portion of the population (singles) feel left out and resentful toward in the first place, it's going to be a homerun.
Hm. I will have to think about this.
Off the top of my head, the water balloon flash mob was in winter 2009 (right?). Cold, gray weather + water balloons = no thanks.
But pounding people on the head with a pillow on a day devoted to consumerist expressions of love… More appeal? Something quirky and fun to do in the middle of winter, on a memorable date, as a sort of protest to a holiday people have pent-up resentment toward?
The videos might explain a lot. People are *seriously* having fun. Beating strangers with a pillow takes no rehearsal, is crazy fun (more fun than water balloon fighting), and (unlike the swing dance flashmob) takes no rehearsal or organization. Show up and pound people.
And there seems to have been serious Facebook marketing — over 3K people invited to the Facebook event and nearly 800 accepting (300 showing up). One person with a lot of connections? Many people inviting friends? Wish I knew how many FB friends Solon has, that might explain a lot.
A possible formula:
fun, easy group activity + memorable date + someone with a lot of Facebook friends (+ pent-up V-Day angst?) = successful flashmob
Now I want to ask Solon how he pulled it off…