The elevator doors opened one more time. An older African American man playing a guitar and a tall, handsome, impeccably dressed, young man carrying a drum around his neck board the elevator. They join the other passengers without skipping a beat. “Start wearing purple, wearing purple..." they sing as if they were part of this sing-a-along from the top floor. Everyone is smiling, singing and dancing. Camera 4 focuses on the woman in the back of the elevator. Her mouth is wide open; her hand is waving above her head in disbelief. All she intended to do was get to the lobby and go about her day. Instead, she is smack in the middle of this musical concert in “her” elevator.

A few months ago I sat across the table from Charlie Todd, New York City comedian and founder of Improv Everywhere. I laughed out loud as he outlined potential outlandish and hilarious pranks created for Yahoo!’s upcoming marketing campaign.

Charlie has a long history of pulling public pranks. Among my favorites, he has sent 45 people into Best Buy dressed in blue shirts and khakis with the simple mission “help people," he has tricked an entire audience into thinking he was Ben Folds (at a Ben Folds concert no less) and probably most famously, he orchestrated 100 people freezing in place for two minutes inside Grand Central Station.

Charlie is one of those guys who pushes the envelope and paints outside the lines. His pranks are fun, spontaneous, irreverent and daring. Since that’s pretty much how we see our brand personality, there were obvious synergies. We decided to collaborate for the campaign.

We both loved “Elevator Music." The prank would take place in an elevator and be a progressive sing-a-long upon descent. The key was to have one person along for the ride that had no idea what was going on. The elevator is a space that has social norms and unwritten rules. When you break these norms there is nothing to do but react (or attempt to NOT react, which in itself is a great reaction). This particular elevator was in a 34-story building in downtown Manhattan.

In late August, we rode an elevator, rigged with 9 hidden cameras and microphones, up and down all day –- with actors singing a Gogol Bordello song. Unsuspecting riders reacted in ways we could never have anticipated. Most people laughed and jumped in. Some were not amused. And many were just in complete shock. Regardless of the initial reaction, as they left the elevator and went about their day, they were touched by a little purple whether they realized it or not.

You can find the final product here. Here’s an interview with Charlie about the stunt:

There are more purple pranks to come. With Charlie’s help, we have a few more purple zingers up our sleeves to be unveiled in the next month. As for the woman in the elevator, we believe she still can’t help but quietly hum “Start Wearing Purple” every time she presses the lobby button and the doors close.

Jason Anello
Ideologist, Buzz Marketing