Just back from taking the teen and friends to the Travis Scott show in Mumbai. Before we go further a quick quiz:
Travis Scott is:
A. An American hip hop and rap star
B. Ex-partner of Kylie Jenner
C. Jacques Bermon Webster II
Woohoo! You guessed right!
All of the above are true.
Of Airconditioned Loos and er, Crickets
Sadly, the highlight – and best organized aspect – of the event were the airconditioned toilets! I’ve never had one of those so for a few brief moments I did feel I was living the rap star life 🙂
And then, reality struck.
The artist was 20 minutes late, and left 30 minutes early, having sung for a little over an hour. He said thank you and left the stage but most of us didn’t realize he’d said bye 🙂 There was little crowd engagement and no banter of the sort that I’d seen at shows by Billie Eilish, Kid Laroi, or Coldplay.
There were entire minutes where nothing was happening, and at one point the sound of crickets came through the speakers. There were firecrackers and fire but in a very predictable way and some random dousing of fans with water.
Sure, he sang some of his songs, but there was no real thought about the audience experience beyond that.
From an artist who had 10 fans die as a result of trampling due to a crowd surge at the Astroworld Festival in 2021, I would have expected more.
Every Event is an Experience
The Eras Tour made a billionaire out of Taylor Swift – but she ran 3 hour sets with 40 plus songs and multiple costume changes and elaborate staging. Practised for hours to get the show set into muscle memory.
When someone commits their time (and money) to your product, you have the obligation to make the best use of it. To think about how you can deliver the best value.
Sadly this is rare.
It takes skill to orchestrate an experience. Though once it has been put in place it is easier to deliver it at scale. But the first giant step is the intent – do we care enough to do so?
Street Selling in the Age of AI
My daughter was both overwhelmed and touched by the effort every street seller in Mumbai put into closing the sale. A child of the digital era and malls, this was her first sustained experience with street hustle. They wanted to deliver the best value they could within their limited resources. Negotiation is engagement, a chance for a human connect, often with humour and drama.
The fact that the Fashion Streets of Mumbai are still in existence is a testament to our need for the human experience. We loved it so much we did all three – Bandra, Colaba and Nariman Point.
Can it be done digitally? I am aware of boutique owners live streaming their sales thereby retaining their connection with their buyers. Can it be done at scale? Probably. Yes, AI does the job of telling me about the product but it also tends to suck out some of the joy 🙂
Building a Great Experience
First is that we should WANT to build one.
Next comes mapping out the various interaction paths with your product or service, and seeing how you can deliver a benefit to the client.
If you are selling an apartment block, how is the experience of getting to the site? Of viewing the sample apartments? Of meeting the sales team? Documentation? My client invested in the public access road to their site and a beautiful experience center with free ice cream. Yes, the product is awesome, but so is the experience of buying it.
In traditional interactions a glass of cold water, a cup of hot tea, a plate of cookies – all were intended to give you a little dopamine break. A candy bowl or a free sticker at the cash counter ensured that the pain of payment was countered with the joy of something free.
What about non-physical positives?
Are you building a sense of community? Making them feel they learned something? Felt special? Felt smart? Got a deal? Validated them?
In our dopamine crazed world you might require a spike every 30 seconds! Ok, that might be too high a bar, but you get the picture – the experience has to be sliced into multiple rewarding instances.
As a reader of India’s longest running marketing newsletter – 600 issues and counting – y’all are smart. I know you’ll come up with fantastic ideas for yourselves. Please share them with me too!
NSFW warning on Travis Scott
I wanted to do a crash course on Travis prior to going to the concert. Boy, was that a mistake – he mumbles the lyrics so I can live with that, but the videos. No ambiguity there. I say this to let you know that you’re welcome to research this cultural phenomenon but he is Not Suitable For Work!
He’s a Fien!
Have a great weekend and maybe listen to some classical music of any genre to soothe your nervous system 🙂
