• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, November 13, 2016

Just like they did with Harlem Shake and, well, basically every other meme to make its way through the interwebs, the ad agency world has jumped on board the latest trendlet sweeping the internet: #MannequinChallenge.

What's the #MannequinChallnge, you ask? Well, it's as stupid as it sounds. It involves standing still in various poses like, you know, a mannequin while your non-activity is filmed.

Ad agencies are all over the trend because it allows them to escape the bonds of those pesky and ever-so-limiting creative briefs and come up with something that is actually creative. Even if it just involves standing around in weird poses doing nothing.

Apparently, the #MannequinChallenge was started by students at Jacksonville's Edward H. White high school. The students posed mannequin-style in a classroom while being filmed. That's it. Of course, brands, celebrities -- and yes, ad agencies had to get into the action as well.

You can take a look at SapientNitro's version here, Red Tettmer O'Connell and Partners here, BBDO Atlanta's here and Insight Creative Group's here.

On the brand side, Target, Sprite, Denny's, Coke, Pixar and Shopify, to name a few, got in on the action too.

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