It was only a matter of time before the suits turned Improv Everywhere’s famous “frozen” stunt in Grand Central Station

into what can only be described as a “mass ad:”

I don’t like it. But not because it’s a rip off. That happens all the time – in marketing, in advertising, in music, in technology. Even Shakespeare is alleged to have ripped off fellow writers. The airwaves of the commercial music industry is filled with re-sampled tracks. Hell, have the exercises I do at the gym are of those I saw other people doing.

Imitation may be the best form of flattery, but it’s also really, really convenient, and especially helpful when it’s 4:30 p.m. and all you’ve got down on paper is  white space the size of the Great Plains.

“Borrowing” is even a kinder word to use than imitation, so let’s roll with that. There is beauty is borrowing a concept and making it better, but I don’t think T-Mobile succeeded in doing so.

I don’t know if there was a tie-in to the brand on-site, or if this video was produced and then the company added “Life’s for Sharing” and its logo and then posted it on YouTube.

If the stunt was tied into a new 6G camera T-Mobile was bundling with featured phones, then well, that’s better. That makes more sense to me, because as you notice, a large percentage of people not in on the stunt pull out their camera phones.

That would be kind of cool.

But the stunt is just about T-Mobile. So really, what the company is saying is, “Creativity is awesome. We’re creative. We’re awesome. Use T-Mobile.”

That’s not good enough for me, because if you swap out T-Mobile for “Randy’s Burger Shack,” and pass out a few bacon double cheeseburgers at the Liverpool Street Station, you don’t lose anything.

Would Randy’s ad be any better? No? But keep in mind, Randy dropped out of college, drinks vodka out of plasic bottles and just put next month’s rent down on red. There’s less expected of him.

Creativity doesn’t just stop at the concept. It has to continue on through the delivery of that concept. Otherwise, the brand or product isn’t packaged quite right.

Now, if this ”mass ad” had been for a local dance studio, well, I would have loved it.