New Power Pop-Ups: Supercharging Engagement
Experiential trends 2024:
performance-based entertainment
The world of pop-up experiences is getting a major upgrade. Fueled by cutting-edge mixed-reality tech, pop culture trends, and a focus on social impact, pop-ups are poised for a massive boom. Analysts predict their market value will surpass a staggering $95 billion by 2025 (source: Key Stats). From helping struggling urban communities to thrilling fans with exclusive collaborations, these innovative pop-ups are setting the stage for the future. From immersive self-care experiences to mind-bending AI encounters, get ready to be amazed by what's next.
1. Transient Spaces Servicing Civic Commerce
2. Temporary Fan Stores Extend ‘Tentpole’ Stage & Screen Moments
3. Pop-Ups Propelling Self-Care
4. Mediated Spaces Mainstreaming the Metaverse
5. Experiential AI: Visitors Influence the Brand Experience
Transient Spaces Servicing Civic Commerce
Taking a page from the Civic Commerce playbook, everyday brands like supermarkets and fast-food chains are stepping up with innovative pop-ups. These aren't your typical flashy promotions – they're designed to support communities feeling the pinch from rising costs. Think free Wi-Fi hotspots offering a lifeline to struggling families or havens for exhausted delivery workers. These pop-ups position themselves as acts of brand generosity, offering much-needed support in unexpected ways.
Echoing strategies explored in Civic Commerce, socially focused ‘everyday’ brands, including supermarkets and fast-food chains, are using pop-ups to support cost-of-living-hit cohorts. Designed as acts of brand generosity, examples range from free hosting hotspots to providing respite for shift/delivery workers.
Chick-Fil-A’s Brake Room for Food Delivery Workers: Catering to the 65,000+ food delivery workers in NYC (CNN Business, 2023), Chick-Fil-A’s spring 2023 Upper East Side pop-up The Brake Room offered a resting space with free refreshments, toilets, sofas, wi-fi, phone charging and an indoor bike dock. Open Monday to Saturday, 11am to 7pm, users entered by showing a delivery driver profile for a food app such as Uber Eats.
Credit: Chick-Fil-A
Temporary Fan Stores Extend ‘Tentpole’ Stage & Screen Moments
Get ready for a concert merch bonanza! With live music tours back in full swing, fans are snapping up memorabilia more than ever before. A whopping 20% of concertgoers are now leaving shows with souvenirs, a figure that's doubled since 2019 (source: Key Stats). This surge is fueling the rise of "merchtainment," innovative pop-up experiences that extend the excitement of concerts and movies beyond the ticket price. These immersive spaces cater not only to die-hard fans, but also to those who can't snag a concert ticket or want to delve deeper into their favorite fictional worlds.
With IRL (in real life) music tours resuming, merchandise sales are heating up – 20% of concert attendees buy souvenirs, a figure that’s doubled between 2019-22 (see Key Stats). It’s amplifying the value of ‘merchtainment’, including spin-off spaces buoying the buzz of cinematic worlds or live events, and exciting fans priced out of concert tickets.
Lush’s Wes Anderson Asteroid City Pop-Up Extends Cult Cinema: This summer, British organic beauty brand Lush collaborated with American film producers Focus Features on the Asteroid City Giftshop in London, promoting its partnership with Wes Anderson’s new film Asteroid City. Stocked with exclusive Asteroid City products, the decor emulated Anderson’s distinctive precision with a pastel-hued café and eye-popping retro visual merchandising. It’s already garnered over one billion TikTok views.
Credit: Lush
Credit: Lush
Pop-Ups Propelling Self-Care
Urban oases are blooming! Forget the typical retail experience. Today's brands are creating pop-ups dedicated to micro-moments of well-being. Think chromotherapy workouts, city-centered forest bathing, or even spa treatments at your local gym. These innovative experiences offer busy city dwellers a chance to recharge and reconnect – all within the hustle and bustle of urban life.
As detailed in Wellness-Centred Retail Spaces & Services, providing micro moments of wellbeing is a blossoming brand opportunity. From chromotherapy-supported workouts and city-centric forest bathing, to a gym brand dabbling in spa-style treatments, these experiences offer havens for busy urbanites.
Self-care gets social! H&M hopped on the trend with a unique pop-up in their Williamsburg store. In early 2023, they transformed the space to promote their Move athleisure line by offering chromotherapy (light therapy) fitness classes. Imagine working out bathed in blue light – known to aid joint lubrication and muscle stimulation. Partnering with local Brooklyn studio Good Move, H&M created an experience that combined exercise and relaxation.
Credit: H&M
Credit: H&M
Mediated Spaces Mainstreaming the Metaverse
Forget virtual reality headsets gathering dust! Forward-thinking brands are using pop-ups to bring the metaverse to life in a fun and accessible way. These entertaining activations act as gateways for the curious, offering a glimpse into Web3-enhanced life with the help of cutting-edge immersive and mixed-reality technologies. It's a win-win – brands demystify the metaverse, and visitors get a taste of the future.
Forward-thinking brands are also using pop-ups to mainstream the promise of the metaverse – entertaining activations offering both accessibility and a guiding hand to those curious about Web3-enhanced life. New immersive and mixed-reality technologies are, unsurprisingly, key.
AR Makeovers at Flannels! For Metaverse Beauty Week, Flannels' flagship store offered a taste of the future. Imagine trying on makeup from top brands virtually and seeing yourself transformed by digital artists. This pop-up hinted at a future where beauty goes beyond reality.
Credit: Flannels
Credit: Flannels
Experiential AI: Visitors Influence the Brand Experience
The advent of new forms of artificial intelligence (AI) capable of mirroring human behaviours and informing reactions is already feeding into spatial design, including pop-ups. Pioneering brands in sectors including sports and automotive are already toying with the technologies’ parameters – from ambience-aligned product customisation, to conversing with avatars IRL.
The advent of new forms of artificial intelligence (AI) capable of mirroring human behaviours and informing reactions is already feeding into spatial design, including pop-ups. Pioneering brands in sectors including sports and automotive are already toying with the technologies’ parameters – from ambience-aligned product customisation, to conversing with avatars IRL.
Sneakerheads, rejoice! Nike upped the ante with their Air Max Pulse launch in 2023. Forget static displays – they installed an AI-powered mixing table at their Parisian House of Innovation. Imagine collaborating with a digital design assistant (E2!) to create your own custom Air Max design. And it gets better – the table even generated unique soundscapes based on your creation! This immersive pop-up experience blurred the lines between designer and customer, putting the power of creation in your hands.
Credit: Nike
Key Learnings
Connect to City Needs
Civic-commerce-focused initiatives – such as activations for people struggling with everyday situations like staying healthy while nightshift working, or a lack of outdoor space at home – will have powerful mileage in creating an equitable urban landscape. Nimble and hyper-local, these pop-ups are an especially relevant format that can go to exactly where the need is.
Extend Pop-Culture Hype Beyond the Venue
With live concerts and cinematic events bouncing back post-pandemic, so too is the appetite for communal fan experiences and associated mementoes (see the Key Stats on soaring merchandise sales). Service this desire – and the fact that demand for many live events is far outstripping availability – with imaginative pop-ups that give fans a dedicated spin-off experience.
Make Pop-Ups a Portal to Metaversal Value
Consumer interest in the metaverse remains reasonably strong, but so does confusion about what it means or can do for them. Use pop-ups created in collaboration with Web3-attuned concept designers such as London-based Cult to inspire the crypto connoisseurs and unlock new avenues for those curious enough to be converted by a helping hand.
Use Pop-Ups to Propel Self-Care
With consumers increasingly ranking wellbeing as a major priority (and associated spending on the rise) but a lack of accessible or inspiring experiences, there’s a clear opportunity. Bring new avenues of health to your fanbase in urban (or suburban) havens that will satisfy their yearning for daily pleasure.