News

Musical Flashmob Hits Heathrow's Terminal 5

1st Nov 2010

A flashmob made up of singers, beatboxers, dancers and the general public serenaded thousands of passengers arriving at Heathrow airport’s Terminal 5 on Wednesday as part of a TV advert organised by mobile phone network T-Mobile.

Leading the way were beatboxers Richard Lianhart and Bellatrix. Richard, from London, has recently performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and The Bolshoi Ballet and is the only beat boxer to have performed at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. Bellatrix, the current Female World Beatbox champion, is known for taking beatboxing in a more musical direction and is the founder of new female beatbox project; the Boxettes. Alongside them was a ‘human orchestra’ selected from Voca People and curated by innovative Israeli Composer Shai Fishman, which was made up of 20 singers who use their voices to mimic instruments including violins, cello and drums. Annie Skates a professional voice coach, who works on X Factor coaching the backing track singers, lent her skills to ensure that the sound was of the best quality.

The event gave birth to a new star, 28 year old George Ikediashi, a T-Mobile customer who is a classically trained opera singer, who caught the attention of the producers, whilst serenading a stranger with a rendition of ‘I am the Passenger’ by Iggy Pop. His performance, which was captured on hidden cameras in the terminal, has been selected from hours of footage to appear in the final TV edit. It means George will be appearing in more than 3 million homes and on over 6 million TVs.

The track-list included ‘At Last’ by Etta James, ‘Comin’ Home Baby’ by Mel Torme, ‘Return of the Mack’ by Mark Morrison, ‘I am the Passenger’ by Iggy Pop and ‘I Knew You Were Waiting (for me)’ by George Michael & Aretha Franklin.

Richard Lianhart, said, “It was an incredible day and it was very special to be part of an event of a scale that has never been attempted before. I am proud to be part of such an amazing project and work alongside such talented creatives.”

Bellatrix said: “The shoot yesterday was quite an experience. It was really good fun watching the varied reactions from different members of public, and most of all It has been a real privilege to work along side so many great musicians and personalities. I'm really looking forward to seeing the end result!”

Passengers walking through Arrivals were greeted by a crowd of more than 500 people – a mixture of waiting public, taxi drivers, cabin crew, baggage handlers and T-Mobile staff and customers – who spontaneously burst into synchronised song and dance.

It is the first time flash mobbing has ever taken place at a UK airport and hidden cameras have been placed around the terminal by T-mobile to capture the action.

The ad follows T-Mobile’s previous two guerrilla style advertisements, which are now world renowned and were designed by the mobile network to create moments for sharing. It follows the original from January 2009 entitled ‘dance’ that showed more than 400 dancers spontaneously break into a routine at London’s Liverpool Street station and ‘sing’, filmed in May 2009, which saw pop star Pink lead more than 13,000 people in a karaoke sing-along in Trafalgar Square. Combined, these two recorded more than 28 million YouTube hits from around the Globe and have won numerous awards within the advertising industry.

Spencer McHugh, Director of Brand at T-Mobile commented: “We wanted to create and capture a moment that is so unique and upbeat that people just want to share it. With our hidden cameras we were able to record the reaction of the returning travellers and the spectacle of more than 500 people singing and dancing in airport arrivals, all of which will be shared when the advert premieres on Friday night.”

Make sure you don’t miss the premiere of the advert on Friday 29th October, which will be showing on Channel 4 at 10.15pm. The 3 minute ad is also being screened across more than 80 channels with all of the major social networks including Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. It is expected to be watched by nearly 10 million people across the UK and reach more than 2 million households. To watch it online go to youtube.com/lifesforsharing.