New T-Mobile ad: royal wedding, flashmob-style

T-Mobile have become the latest brand to try and harness the royal wedding for commercial advantage, releasing a video showing the matrimonial ceremony descending into sporadic dance.

It comes as the newest instalment in a series of 'flashmob' adverts created by the mobile phone operator over the last couple of years, under the tagline 'life's for sharing'.

Previous commercials have shown actors bursting into song and dance amid amazed bystanders in a variety of bustling locations, including Liverpool Street Station, Trafalgar Square and Heathrow Terminal 5.

The latest video, however, is clearly entirely staged. As two ushers lead the marriage procession into the church they toss their orders of service into the air and start to boogie.

They are followed by a string of (lookalike) guests, each with their own distinctive moves – the Queen claps, Camilla and Prince Charles knock bums, Prince Harry exuberantly dominates the red carpet – before William and Kate themselves burst into the room.

The video, which surfaced on Friday, is fast becoming an internet sensation, having been viewed over 5.5 million times on YouTube by Tuesday morning. Whether it will have an equally positive effect on consumer activity, however, remains uncertain.

A recent poll carried out by JWT London found that 66 per cent of consumers believe their purchasing behaviour will not be influenced by companies' associations with the wedding. Furthermore, 17 per cent of respondents said they would actually be much less likely to buy a product attempting to link to the event.

Londoners appear particularly inured against wedding fever: 100 per cent of them will not be influenced by brands linking themselves to Kate and Wills's big day, according to the poll. ·