by Bob McGlincy
Read in our Q4 Print Issue HERE .
Live and in person is the best way to experience an event. There is something magical about the crowds, the energy, and the excitement that makes live events more enjoyable—and this is true whether we are talking about music, movies, business, sports, or anything else.
There are many ways to listen to music, but nothing compares with a live concert. With fans singing, screaming, stomping, and dancing to the beat, a venue pulses and feeds back energy onto the crowd. This summer, Beyoncé, Bruce, and Taylor Swift delivered record-breaking performances around the country. Swifties propelled the Eras Tour to new heights with 2.4 million tickets sold in a single day! Two of these tours (and maybe all three) will gross over a billion dollars when including European sites. A good concert is about the performer and the music; a great concert is about the connection with the audience, the shared experience, and the memories made.
Movies are a lot like music in that regard: the encounter is magnified when experienced with others. Watching a picture on the big screen in a dark, crowded theater heightens the emotions—the joy, the excitement, the suspense, the thrill, the fear, the romance—it’s all amplified and more enjoyable. This summer, crowds are posting a box office record with $4 billion in gross domestic receipts. As of this writing, there are six movies grossing over $300,000,000 in the US. Leading the way, of course, is Barbie at $609.5 million. Oppenheimer is in fifth place at $310 million (which is a remarkable amount for a three-hour movie with a limited number of showtimes). Some movie-goers enhance their experience by dressing up as characters. This has been happening at theaters since the days of Gone with the Wind and has continued with The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Super Mario Bros, and, yes, of course, Barbie. Dressing in character creates an emotional investment in the event. And it’s not just movies—tradeshows like PAX and Comic Con see thousands of attendees arrive in costume.
As any reader of this column knows, business events entice great in-person numbers. PAX West attracted 120,000 people in September (PAX East drew more than 130,000 fans earlier this year in Boston). NY Comic Con should surpass 200,000 again this October, and SEMA may exceed 150,000 attendees in November. Tradeshows attract crowds because they work. They are engaging, energizing, exciting, and fun. They stimulate the senses and work on many levels: networking, creativity, communication, idea generation, leads, trust, and sales.
Another opportunity for attracting large crowds is sports. College football season is upon us, and there are at least eight university stadiums with capacities of 100,000 or more—and each of these schools typically sells out every home game. The Super Bowl also sells out stadiums; but more impressively, it annually attracts a TV audience of about 100 million. But this televised show is different: it’s an occasion; it’s an excuse to get together and view the game with others; it’s an event. Large attendance numbers are not limited just to football or the other major sports. The US Open established a new record with 201,787 fans over the Labor Day Weekend. (Remarkable considering the four main “show courts” had a total seating capacity of 146,247 for those three days). Another example: a new world record for a women’s sporting event was set on August 30 at a volleyball match between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Omaha Mavericks. Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, has an official capacity of 85,458, which is what the football team regularly sells. The official, ticketed attendance for this volleyball match was 92,003!
Numbers are intriguing, but it’s the experience that matters. A shared connection will make an event, any event, more memorable. For a fireworks spectacular, would you prefer watching it on TV, in a movie, or outside with friends? If you were to get married and plan a honeymoon, would you and your spouse choose a virtual or a live experience? Are events better and more enjoyable when attended in person? What do you think?
Willwork creates labor and technology solutions for experiential marketing applications, including tradeshow exhibits, corporate events, brand activations, and themed retail environments. Bob McGlincy is director, business management. He can be reached at Bob.McGlincy@willwork.com
