The Midi Mafia Ft Chanel – Phamous (Music Video Review)
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The official video for Midi Mafia’s video release “PHamous” would normally gather chuckles and a clichéd-filled tongue-lashing from us due to so-called “rappers” acting out the fantasies of the actual rich and famous. But when analyzed fully, something remarkable is going on with the song and video for “PHamous,” and it truly represents the infinite power of YouTube, viral videos and guerilla marketing.
Please first take note before watching the video. The song is incredibly catchy. It’s the kind of song that you cannot get out of your head for at least a full day. You will subconsciously be singing,
“P-H-A-M-O-U-S!
I love being PHamous
That’s right PHamous
P-H-Vegas
You know it’s all good.”
If you did not pick up on the incorrect spelling of PHamous — and improper capitalization of the letter H — then you may be missing out on the true power of what this video represents. Yes, you and more than a million other people in less than two days just watched a nearly five-minute commercial for the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
Plenty of videos have been sponsored by big companies like OK Go’s State Farm-sponsored “This Too Shall Pass” and the Virgin Mobile ad-filled video for Lady Gaga’s “Telephone,” but this video was not just sponsored by and filmed at Planet Hollywood. The song is the casino’s theme song and the video is a promotional tour of how sweet the Aladdin Casino — oops, Planet Hollywood Casino — has become.
It all started with a flash mob in the fall of 2009 at Planet Hollywood with the song “PHamous” being used as the soundtrack. The true definition of a flash mob is, “a large gathering of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then disperse. The term is generally not applied to events organized by public relations firms, protests, and publicity stunts.”
This flash mob, where hundreds of people suddenly started dancing in the casino of Planet Hollywood and has been viewed more than 2 million times, was definitely a publicity stunt for Planet Hollywood. It was organized with the help of several “YouTube Celebrities” like ShayCarl and KassemG — who all posted different angles of the video on their YouTube stations as well.
The five-minute flash mob would be impossible in a Las Vegas casino without permission — especially one that involved a dozen video cameras. That’s not the only hint to know that it was all set up with the help of Planet Hollywood. The video is featured on the resort’s homepage as well.
But who cares that it was “fake!” — as so many YouTube comments read. The people in the casino enjoyed it, and so have millions of viewers. Plus, it has gathered some incredible marketing for Planet Hollywood — a company that most people think died off in the late ‘90s. Sure, the company closed down more than 80 restaurants, but they bought the Aladdin Casino on the Vegas Strip in 2007 and have changed their image to correspond with the change in what it now means to be famous in 2010.
People used to go to Planet Hollywood because movie stars owned it and featured props used in horrible action flicks. The restaurant represented the idea of what a celebrity was before the advent of user-created online videos and Social Media. Now, anyone can be famous with the quick upload of a video. Planet Hollywood took this idea and ran with it.
The video, song, and casino theme play on the idea that anyone can be famous — or at least feel like they are rich and famous. “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” is known as one of the most successful advertisement campaigns in the history of marketing and promotions. But that slogan only gets people to visit Vegas, it doesn’t tell them where to stay. Planet Hollywood is taking it one step further and is stating, “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas … and if you want some awesome stuff to happen to you as if you were a famous celebrity while in Vegas you should stay at our resort and casino.”
This by no means is the first company to take hold of viral videos and use them for marketing purposes, but Planet Hollywood is one of the first to market subliminally to such a large audience without having to pay big dollars to national magazines and cable stations to get their message across in such as subtle way. Expect more of this to come in the future.
Posted on 07/19/10
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Back To Blog - Tags: Chanel, Midi Mafia, Music Video, Review, Winning
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