This pointless stunt sponsored by...

They've kinda been doing it for years anyway with their promotional give-aways centered on their roving vehicles... though I don't know how many people actually turn up when those things are around...

I was thinking they could brand it as a flash mob. A secret, for Nova-FM listeners only. Turn up at the Melbourne HMV at 2:12pm, and say the following phrase from the Hollywood romantic action comedy they're about to start plugging; the staff have been briefed to act surprised.

Don't you have Critical Mass already? I take your point though.

FM-104.7 (kind of like FOXFM, but with good music most of the time) has been doing that sort of thing for a few weeks now, with its "FM-104.7 Fugitive" promotion. They send off some guy to do some activity, and then drop clues during the day as to where you can find him. Then people show up to places and ask "Are you the FM-104.7 Fugitive?". There's also hints dropped on Prime TV (Ch Seven affiliate), and if you buy a McDonald's meal on the day you find this idiot, you get double the prizemoney (or somesuch).

Anyone who came into close contact with the Fugitive, but either doesn't know about him because they aren't listening to the station, or don't think it's worth dignifying the exercise (even for a couple of thousand dollars), gets a phone call to tell them "You just missed out on $2000!" or whatever the prizemoney is for that day.

Heh. They've been did "The Fugitive" on one of the "local" commercial stations a month or so back. Commercial radio is always coming up with these groundbreaking ideas.

Good music on commercial radio? This I very much doubt, given the fact that commercial radio is controlled by playlists which are dictated by the whims of advertisers. Some stations even take surveys of what people think of songs and discard not only the ones people dislike but the ones people really like, because someone else is bound to have a negative reaction to them.

Well, y'get Chisel and Midnight Oil and AC/DC and Peter Gabriel and Led Zeppelin and Live and Garbage and David Bowie and... you get the idea.

*I* consider it good music, you probably don't, Mr Smiths fan :-). 'Course every night from about 7 'till 11 (on weekends, from 6pm 'till the following morning), they play the same drek as everyone else (Britney Spears, Eminem, Nelly, etc.)

I think it's more likely that there will be hijack attempts by any or all of the following: Reclaim the Streets Critical Mass Resistance!!!@@!!11!!!!!111 Wilderness Society (and other enviropolitical groups) The Body Shop (!?) that 'Serial Pest' guy

... or maybe just spoilsports with cameras and waterbombs yelling:

"LOOK! A FLASHMOB! HOW TRENDY!"

"Shmob" is the new "blog": http://nowthis.com/log/2003/08/10.html

First flash mob was Thursday pm rushhour outside Flinders Street Station. See major dailies for details. Yeah, mainstream media coverage could be its downfall.