Your Favorite Band is Playing, Would You Attend?
10 min read with video
Would you go to a concert? If your answer was “no way!” you are not alone. As part of our Navigating to a New Normal longitudinal study, we asked participants a series of Would You…? questions to get a snapshot of people’s comfort levels. In this installment, we focused on non-essential gatherings – movies, concerts, salons.
What we found was that these non-essentials are what people are REALLY missing. They are the things that make us human – the art, the energy, the shared experience. Going on a subway is utilitarian and functional, but a movie?
That contains the power of a shared social experience - a concert seen with hundreds of like-minded, adoring fans; the latest blockbuster movie in a packed theater with everyone laughing, screaming, thrilling together. We want these shared social moments. It’s part of what connects us to our tribes, but individual safety can override the desire to be together, creating a challenge for your business.
The willingness to attend these “non-essential” gatherings fell on a sliding scale. Concerts on the “absolutely not” end and salons on the “I’d probably go” end. The reasoning was straightforward – the greater the potential for a non-rule-following, large crowd the less likely people were willing to go.
And yet there was an undercurrent of longing. There was language around how much they miss live concerts, sporting events, etc. A gaping hole opened up when gatherings like these were canceled.
What is the implication and challenge for your business?
The ask from consumers is simple – we want to gather for the pure joy of it, but we’re not going to gather, no matter how much we want to, because you haven’t made it safe enough. The challenge is to deliver the fun without the fear. Time to get creative.
Would you go to a concert or show?
“No” was the immediate response. So how could you do it? Keep it fun, but safe, like this concert in England.
Would you see a movie?
Movies were still mostly “noes.” Get creative. Kelvin had this to say, “Look, businesses have been closed for months and months now. Let's not forget that … I think you need to try something. If it's removing all the seats so that every seat's socially distanced so they can at least fit about 200 people in there … There are ways. Right? … So if the movie theater removed some seats, like ... here's this group of four seats. Over here's a group of two seats. Over there's a group of six or whatever … They would be social distancing because there's nowhere to sit. You know what I mean?”
Would you go to a museum?
More participants considered visiting a museum than not. Like a grocery store, only so many visitors are being allowed into the museum; fewer people and more monitoring increased comfort levels.
Pre-pandemic museum visits often meant jockeying for position to see a famous work of art thereby diminishing the experience. Right now, museums could play up the emptiness. Fewer crowds means a longer, more enhanced moment with an artwork. The experience could be further enhanced with a “docent” app on your phone – tour the museum without the crowds.
Would you go to a hair salon?
Most participants said they would go to a hair salon, but there are some holdouts. Again, creative solutions will help alleviate fears. Take blow-dryers for instance. Pushing air around from one person to another with an airborne virus is not a comforting scenario. Some salons are taking their operations outdoors or foregoing the blow-dry experience entirely.
Bottomline, virtual gatherings just aren’t the same when it comes to shared experiences. How do you bring the energy of these types of gatherings while still making it safe? Are you thinking creatively enough in order to succeed? The goal is to create togetherness even if people have to be apart.
To hear from more of from Navigating to a New Normal participants, check out their thoughts here …
WOULD YOU GO TO A CLASSROOM? RIDE A BUS? EAT IN A CAFETERIA?
