16th December 2016
The Undercurrent Group (comprising Undercurrent, House of Experience, The Drop and Love the People) took the challenge seriously!
What started as a bit of fun by high school students in Florida, has become a worldwide craze. But while other such social fads like planking or the ice bucket challenge focused on individuals, the Mannequin Challenge has allowed brands to jump on board to create some fantastic examples of branded content.
The challenge however is to have some fun, communicating a strong on-brand message while simultaneously being perceived as authentic by consumers. Equally, we are strong believers in ‘if you are going to do something, make sure you do it right’; brands should avoid getting in on the action unless they are going to put the time and effort into making their content worthwhile.
Here are a few examples of #MannequinChallenges we think are worth a watch:
An ALS charity (the cause behind the Ice Bucket Challenge), ALS Liga out of Belgium, was quick to produce a compelling and moving version of the challenge and still one of the best to date.
Hillary Clinton and her campaign team were able to show some personality alongside a clear ‘don’t stand still’ message ahead of the US election.
One of the craziest ‘how did they do it’ videos came from USA Today Sports courtesy of The Pacific Women’s Water Polo.
Sprite cleverly managed to get in on the action without actually producing a video. Their tweet reads: Our lawyers said we couldn’t do a #mannequinchallenge so we’ll ask you …do you wanna do a #mannequinchallenge for us? #WannaSprite
Finally, while not the highest production value, Singapore Airlines and Sky Scanner both got in on the action and gave audiences an insight into their service and office culture respectively.
No doubt the trend will die a natural death soon but in the meanwhile I’m sure we will see some more fantastic (and not so good) brand attempts during this silly season in the lead up to Christmas.