HAVE YOU TAKEN THE MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE?

What is the Mannequin Challenge?

The Mannequin Challenge is a viral video craze featuring people imitating mannequins and freezing for the camera while music plays in the background. Many people are sharing videos using the hashtag #MannequinChallenge.

The music?

The music heard playing in the background of most clips is Rae Sremmurd’s ‘Black Beatles’ featuring Gucci Mane.

How did it start?

#TheMannequinChallenge began in late October, when students at a Jacksonville high school in the USA filmed themselves pretending to be stuck motionless, mid-pose, as if they were modelling slacks at Macy’s. The clip gained traction online and other people started to make their own versions, many set to the bubbling-up rap track ‘Black Beatles’ for no real reason at all.

What does it really mean?

The challenge has, like so many memes before it, leapt from an expression of teenage boredom to a marketing gimmick for adults, making its way into political campaigns and TV ads.
In doing so, it may have started to take on some queasy significance for anyone recently yearning to hit pause on history.

The kids who make these videos are freezing themselves in a fun moment they’ll never get back. Did all the other campaigns from Hillary Clinton or the pro-sports teams or companies that have gone mannequin gave you the feeling that there is no future to worry about at all! Good.

What does it really mean to you, or how do you see it?

Do you think we just do what others are doing and what is gone viral?

Will it be as big as the Ice Bucket Challenge? Well, all that water may have just made a real difference, with some of the viral challenge donations helping fund a breakthrough in research into Motor Neurone Disease (ALS). Researchers have just discovered a new gene associated with the disease and experts are hopeful it could lead to new treatments in future.

I am sure here we can create a real reason behind the mannequin challenge, think about it. The challenge just needs to be fun and something people will talk about and want to do. The charitable aspect makes it easy to share and more attractive to carry out.

Here are some tips to help you engage consumers in a similar campaign:

1. Make the activity quick and easy
2. Ensure that the activity is fun and clearly benefits someone. Helping a cause is obvious.
3. Don’t make the activity marketing-centric.