The Power of a Brand in the Entertainment Industry — How did The Prodigy save their concert with a flag

The band — In case you didn’t know, “The Prodigy” are that one band you just can help bouncing and raving to once you hear them, more so when they are playing a live gig. They have become an icon of electronic music and are considered one of the pioneers of the “big beat” genre along with Fat Boy Slim and The Chemical Brothers.

They are a brand of their own and a very powerful one, with a well constructed identity, based on the archetype of “the ant” and a show filled with insane brand activation features (lights, stroboscopes, costumes and ritualistic components).

The venue — Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. Chisinau is the capital city of the Republic of Moldova, an ex-communist block state in Eastern Europe, which used to be a part of Romania before the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact went in effect (June 1940). It gained its independence from the soviets in 1991, after the fall of the U.S.S.R.

It is now bordering Romania to its West and Ukraine to the North and East. The poor current state of its development and the endemic corruption make it at this point an “avoidable” place for investments and thus heavily “marginalized” as an European state, coupled with heavy Russian influence.

The event — June 3rd was the date and Orange organised it to celebrate 10 years of activity in Moldova. With the stage being placed in front of the Parliament building (National Assembly House) and with a crowd of roughly 10.000 gathered, the capital city of Moldova was set to rock!

Entering with a bang, The Prodigy started out with their signature song, “Firestarter” and at first managed to hype up the crowd, coupled with the intense light-show and great theatrical acts of the two MC’s, Flint and Maxim.

The problem — As a few songs went down, so did the energy of the crowd. The lack of response from the spectators to the engaging rhythms of the band got them wondering — what was going on?

The people didn’t seem to be connecting with the band and moreover, many of them didn’t know how to react to what was going on. Being the first big event of this type in the country, the dynamics of a great international gig were somewhat estranged to the local population. But what to do?

The solution — Experience wise , The Prodigy faced many such situations in their career, touring through the world, so they had an ace up their sleeve.

What would get a crowd of people going, from a country which has been heavily disrupted and left hanging on a thread, to emotionally connect to the band? — THEIR NATIONAL FLAG. The moment Flint pulled up that flag on stage and they started playing “The Day is my Enemy” the crowd just went BERSERK.

The significance — A flag is basically the visual identity of a country, its LOGO if you want, which is in turn makes a country brand of its own. The neurological processes in the brain that undergo when one relates to a brand, are exactly the same as when one relates to a religion — invoking powerful feelings of belonging, patriotism and greatness.

When Flint pulled up the flag, it triggered an overwhelming emotional response from the crowd, associating “The Prodigy” with the Moldovan flag, going to show that “The Prodigy” and the crowd are now part of the same “pack”. It is an extraordinary example of brand-to-brand activation — Prodigy, the band and the brand, connected with Moldova, the country and the brand.

The outcome — The emotional surge was so intense, that from that point on, throughout the whole show, the crowd and the band created a constant emotional tether, keeping spirits up and creating “mayhem” all over.

“Smack my B*tch Up” was the highlight song of the concert, with everyone just going crazy — I ended up being sprayed with beer, wet to the skin, from people all over just creating pressure cannons with beer cans. One guy even “King-Konged” an empty beer can against his chest — talk about SAVAGERY.

The conclusion — Brands are everywhere, omnipresent in our lives. The concept of a “brand” has expanded beyond the general idea of “corporate branding” and has taken a vaster meaning, covering countries, cities, places, people, artists and so on — basically anything can be a brand.

To see how this powerful relation can affect the course of events and offer in a dire situation the miracle breakthrough, is purely mesmerizing.