When the Queue is the Product: Lessons from an Underwhelming Art Show
It took an hour and 38 minutes to shuffle into the gallery. I was prepared to see something spectacular. Instead, I got three mildly provocative sculptures, two flat-screen loops of people whispering, and a retail stand flogging limited-edition tote bags. It hit me — the true design here wasn’t on the walls, it was in the wait.
The art show, fairly forgettable, had clearly spent more time engineering FOMO than finesse. The queue was snakelike, camera-ready, and weirdly well-lit. People were taking selfies beside strangers. There was a guy sketching the crowd. It was choreographed aspiration. And from a marketing perspective, devastatingly effective.
All of which got me thinking: are we designing experiences for engagement or appearance? Too many brands are falling for the optics trap — the idea that if something looks popular enough, it is. I’m not mad about it, but I do think a lot of marketing now over-indexes on the theatre of interest and under-delivers on substance. The queue becomes the story. And in some cases, the product.
What’s the lesson here? Be careful where you spend your creative budget. Don’t build buzz for buzz’s sake. If you’re staging an experience, have the guts to make it remarkable after the first swipe. And if your best asset is the wait, don’t be surprised if people leave the moment they get in.
The art show, fairly forgettable, had clearly spent more time engineering FOMO than finesse. The queue was snakelike, camera-ready, and weirdly well-lit. People were taking selfies beside strangers. There was a guy sketching the crowd. It was choreographed aspiration. And from a marketing perspective, devastatingly effective.
All of which got me thinking: are we designing experiences for engagement or appearance? Too many brands are falling for the optics trap — the idea that if something looks popular enough, it is. I’m not mad about it, but I do think a lot of marketing now over-indexes on the theatre of interest and under-delivers on substance. The queue becomes the story. And in some cases, the product.
What’s the lesson here? Be careful where you spend your creative budget. Don’t build buzz for buzz’s sake. If you’re staging an experience, have the guts to make it remarkable after the first swipe. And if your best asset is the wait, don’t be surprised if people leave the moment they get in.