Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas

October 14, 2009

It seems that there are no limits for the Black Eye Peas when it comes to Social Media.

The social media explosion started when a happy boy in an Apple Store, and various bizarre versions started to pop up.

On September 2009, 172 communication students at the University of Quebec at Montreal videotaped a lip dub video of the song, which was posted to YouTube the following day. Because of the video’s raw choreography it was able to be filmed in a single take. The video went immediately viral and gained over 1,300,000 views within two weeks. The video was featured on a CNN news report on October/2009.

Bang! The song was already number one on the charts and climbed directly to number one on Itunes with the most sold singles.

If that wasn’t enough, earlier this month Oprah had a Kickoff party for the 24th season of her Talk Show.

This was all launched by a unique performance by the Black Eyed Peas.

Black Eyed Peas altered the lyrics slightly for their hit single “I Gotta Feeling” to tribute Oprah in a big performance on the streets of Chicago.

What Oprah didn’t know was that the 21,000 fans were not just there to watch the kickoff, but to put on a show for Oprah.

So how did they managed to get 21,000 people together to dance in a perfect synchrony?

Answer: Social Media Strategy.

Phase 1 -

Without the show host’s knowledge, Peas star will.i.am teamed up with choreographers  and the show producers to create a dance routine for the band’s “I Gotta Feeling” hit and then called on 800 fans using twitter and social media channels to help him execute the spectacle on TV.

The 800 were taught the moves.

AMAZINGLY everyone did it in such perfect unison.

1st Video – the training session

Phase 2 – After the first selection of dancers had their first session of training the dancers used their own contacts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media channel to engage more people

Video 2 – a more engaged crowd

Just before the show started all the previously trained dancers were dispersed into the crowd to quickly teach it to the rest of the people who became aware of the show through Social Media messages sent out by the dancers, B.E.P’s and Oprahs producers.

Result:

21,000 of Oprah’s biggest fans perform one of the biggest dances in the world to the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.”

Who said there was no way for the phonographic industry to ramp up sales and take their piece of revenue on social sharing websites?

Are they still seeing as a threat or is it a start of a new strategy?

The song has so far sold 3,000,000+ digital downloads in the United States, Internationally, “I Gotta Feeling” has become the Peas’ most successful single of their career, topping the charts in over fifteen countries so far.

Lucio Ribeiro

www.marketingeasy.net

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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }

1 lucio_ribeiro (Lucio Dias Ribeiro) October 14, 2009 at 10:09 am

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Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas [link to post]

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2 dat (Dat) October 14, 2009 at 10:34 am

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Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas [link to post] (via @lucio_ribeiro)

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3 theozoumas (Theo Zoumas) October 15, 2009 at 4:20 am

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Black Eyed Peas take on Social Media – awesome! [link to post]

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4 lucio_ribeiro (Lucio Dias Ribeiro) October 15, 2009 at 4:21 am

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@edouardbreine Thx for RT! RT @lucio_ribeiro: Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas [link to post]

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5 MediaActive (Peter Clarke) October 16, 2009 at 12:45 am

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Good case-study of successful SM strategy in music biz: RT @perth140 Social Media Execution, the Black Eyed Peas Way [link to post]

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6 MynrByrd (Emma) October 16, 2009 at 1:33 am

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RT @perth140: Social Media Execution, the Black Eyed Peas Way [link to post] How fun!

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7 abroadway (abroadway) October 19, 2009 at 1:46 am

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#SocialMedia teachers 21,000 people how to dance in unison [link to post] – next lesson is?

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8 samanthafinn (Samantha Finnegan) October 19, 2009 at 3:04 am

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amazing use of social media largest flash mob ever! [link to post]

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9 koshaughnessy (Kelly O'Shaughnessy) October 21, 2009 at 11:28 pm

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this is a good one RT @bexadecimal: Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas [link to post]

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10 waycooljnr (Way Cool Jnr) October 22, 2009 at 1:04 am

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Social Media Execution: a lesson from the Black Eyed Peas [link to post] Watch the last vid, it’s incredible

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11 NiteShok (Andrew McMillen) October 22, 2009 at 1:05 am

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RT @waycooljnr Social Media Execution: a lesson from the Black Eyed Peas [link to post] Watch the last vid, it’s incredible

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12 nathbush (Nathan Bush) October 22, 2009 at 1:15 am

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Amazing RT @waycooljnr: Social Media Execution: a lesson from the Black Eyed Peas [link to post] Watch the last vid, it’s incredible

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13 cameronreilly (Cameron Reilly) October 22, 2009 at 1:21 am

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21,000 of Oprah’s biggest fans perform one of the biggest dances in the world to the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.” [link to post]

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14 waycooljnr (Way Cool Jnr) October 22, 2009 at 1:33 am

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Social Media Execution: a lesson from Black Eye Peas [link to post] Watch the last vid, it’s incredible

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15 markmacsmith (Mark MacSmith) October 22, 2009 at 1:34 am

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WOW! RT @waycooljnr Social Media Execution: a lesson from Black Eye Peas [link to post] Watch the last vid, it’s incredible

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16 Andrew McMillen October 22, 2009 at 1:42 am

Fantastic post, Lucio. That last video is incredible. Thanks for sharing!

17 challisdarren (Darren Challis) October 22, 2009 at 1:44 am

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RT @cameronreilly 21k Oprah fans perform one of the biggest dances in the world to Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” [link to post]

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18 sm2extensions (SM2) October 22, 2009 at 1:52 am

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RT @tweetmeme Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas | Marketingeasy Internet Marketing Explained [link to post]

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19 smoclassroom (Cyrus) October 22, 2009 at 1:54 am

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#socialmedia Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas | Marketingeasy Internet Marketing.. [link to post]

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20 Matt Granfield October 22, 2009 at 2:15 am

Yeah. Cool. But, they could have done this before ’social media’ existed. I don’t think this is a great example of social mediums being used, everyone could have just texted their friends. In the 19th century they could have done the same thing with telegrams!

21 fddlgrl (Christine Dunaway) October 22, 2009 at 4:34 am

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RT @cameronreilly: 21,000 of Oprah’s biggest fans perform one of the biggest dances in the world to “I Gotta Feeling.” [link to post]

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22 davecarter (David Carter) October 22, 2009 at 5:06 am

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RT @waycooljnr Social Media Execution: a lesson from the Black Eyed Peas [link to post] [last vid is incredible; still h8 the song]

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23 forfashionssake (Grazi Oborn) October 22, 2009 at 5:37 am

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RT @tweetmeme Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas [link to post] I’d love to be the girl in the front

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24 trevoryoung (Trevor Young) October 24, 2009 at 8:22 pm

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RT @tweetmeme Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas [link to post]

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25 dministry (Digital Ministry) October 24, 2009 at 11:27 pm

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NEWS SHARE – Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas [link to post]

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26 joshua_hay (Joshua Hay) October 24, 2009 at 11:51 pm

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RT @dministry: NEWS SHARE – Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas [link to post]

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27 AndresRestrepo (Andres) October 25, 2009 at 12:33 am

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Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas: [link to post] rt @Borisung rt @Tweetmeme

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28 lush_tv (Lush TV) October 26, 2009 at 3:05 am

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RT @tweetmeme Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas [link to post] – social media & video – engaging globally

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29 kahrinachan (Kahrina Richardson) October 26, 2009 at 11:04 pm

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RT @waycooljnr: Social Media Execution: a lesson from the Black Eyed Peas [link to post]

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30 lixonic (Joseph Lixon Louis) October 29, 2009 at 8:48 am

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RT @RealVoiceMedia: RT @TimOnTwtr Social Media Execution a lesson from Black Eye Peas [link to post]

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31 Jim December 6, 2009 at 12:45 pm

Social Media Must work because I am not a big fan of the Black Eyed Peas nor of Oprah (use to like them both a lot), yet I absolutely love this song and crank it every time I hear it! By the way, your blog has an awesome look to it!

32 Lucio December 7, 2009 at 4:16 am

Jim, neither am i fan of them, but the campaign is just great!!!!
Thanks for pop in

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