Branded Flash Mobs, YouTube and Understanding the Effects of Viewer Attitudes on Brand Equity

Ads are no longer unidirectional or one-dimensional but a blend of offline and online techniques designed to directly interact with the community. For many companies, advertising on online platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo... [ view full abstract ]

Ads are no longer unidirectional or one-dimensional but a blend of offline and online techniques designed to directly interact with the community. For many companies, advertising on online platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo has replaced commercials on television altogether. Recently, branded flash mobs have emerged as a popular form of viral advertising. While many branded flash mobs have experienced millions of YouTube views a metric such as view count doesn’t fully indicate the effectiveness of the ad. This netnographic study evaluates viewers’ attitude toward the ad to better understand the effects of branded flash mobs. After examining 2,882 YouTube comments from three virally successful branded flash mobs ads, we offer a typology, referred to as the archetype of consumer attitude matrix, built to enable academics to formulate research questions regarding branded flash mobs. These archetypes of consumer attitudes to the online ad, in this case branded flash mobs, aid in the assessment of consumer response based on processing (cognitive vs. emotive), and stance (supportive vs. antagonistic). This typology also serves as a guide to marketing managers in the use of branded flash mobs in their viral campaigns. We conclude with limitations and recommendations for future research.