Could The Simpsons, Balenciaga, the Arizona Cardinals and YoungBoy Provide Solutions For A Challenged Events and Trade Show Business?

On the surface for the uninformed observer, four seemingly disparate dots on the pop culture and professional sports heat index would not usually portend to provide any insights or lessons for event and trade show exhibition industry leaders and managers on the current state of the?business as we all look into the crystal ball for 2022. Nor would these examples typically resonate with event professionals (beyond casual fan interest) as forming any kind of trend lines that might attempt to transport an industry through a critical transformational period, disrupted by the last 20 months of cancellations of physical in-person gatherings, underwhelming and uneven results of many virtual events and the gradual “reopenings” of physical, live-in person gatherings to a reality full of new challenges. ?

Which brings me to the subjects at hand - The Simpsons, luxury brand Balenciaga, the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals and hip-hop breakout star YoungBoy. With considerable audacity, creative moxie and a visceral understanding of their audiences and customer base, all four serve as directional examples (if not only for pure inspiration) of new opportunities found in unexpected and unconventional intersections for the events industry.

Certainly understand from the personal and professional reunions after so many months of Covid travel restrictions the many who recently ventured out in-person to IMEX, Exhibitor Live, Event Tech Live, ECEF etc. However for a moment putting aside sentimental traditions (including quite frankly seemingly retracing well-worn hotel ballroom paths and traipsing pre-pandemic era carpeted trade show floors) - could it be possible the previously mentioned assembled figures from the worlds of animated TV, high fashion, professional football and rap music provide a much more enlightened set of clues, insights and lessons for a new path forward versus (with all due respect) the typical cast of industry professionals who might be more naturally inclined to excavate yesteryear’s floor plans, check-in lines and mediocre coffee? Probably got some attention here, so please indulge me for a few minutes. ?

This Fall, storied couture fashion house Balenciaga skipped the long traditional fashion runway and instead screened a produced 10-minute animated episode of The Simpsons to audiences with each character in a specific Balenciaga designed piece (NYT). Gasp, pure blasphemy for some in customary fashion circles! How can that be? No physical in-person catwalk but instead video based content? A high-end brand collaboration partnered with a pop culture mass market animated property (albeit a billion dollar global iconic one)? Digital views yielded an audience of over 5 million on YouTube (in a few couple of weeks). [For those in events, conferences and trade shows might there be an opportunity to reframe the typical conversation of customer engagement? Might a metric for success be greater overall viewers amplified through digital? Could an unexpected “surprise and delight factor” enhance your brand with customers? On a recent event industry conference panel hosted by EventTitans in early October I spoke about that events (virtual, hybrid & physical in-person) are content and more emphasis needs to be placed on storytelling and audience experiences instead of the usual conversation of butts in seats registration in the hotel ballroom or registrations on the tech platform.] It’s clear that Balenciaga looked at their business as much more than apparel and secured a like-minded partner (The Simpsons) that viewed their business as much more than a licensing property to tell their story to retailers, journalists and other business constituents and not beholden to the status quo. ?

As of this writing the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals with only one loss has one of the best records in the NFL and is a favorite to possibly reach Super Bowl LVI this coming February. Expectations were especially low entering the season for a wide range of reasons, from supposedly being in a rebuilding mode to signing presumed aging stars such as defensive lineman J.J. Watt and wide receiver A.J. Green. But mostly it comes from a contrarian coach, Kliff Kingsbury directly from the college ranks (Ted Lasso like visions here plus the unexpected manner in which the show was developed) and an unorthodox quarterback playmaker in Kyler Murray.

With the event industry disrupted from the last 20 months, might a similar contrarian page taken from the Cardinal’s playbook almost not be a choice but a necessity? As the New York Times mentions “the Arizona Cardinals are a nearly textbook example of how not to build a successful NFL team.” Quite possibly not following the preconceived status quo in the planning and development of events as well as the hiring of new talent, might actually deliver not only better results, but a game winning (pun intended) experience for audiences no matter the format or channel.

Of course without saying, the Cardinal’s team components and dynamics are critical. Leadership had the courage to zig while other teams zagged when building a team that stands out, apart from the rest. Under the surface (and helmets) not only do their plays look and feel different, they’re intentionally coached in a unique manner, forging an unapologetic different path with arguably better and more sustainable outcomes (full disclosure I’m a huge Pats fan.)

Over the last year, while retained as an events strategy and content consultant for PwC Australia, I was virtually embedded with the events team to reimagine, reinvent and elevate the overall value proposition of events. In addition, to being so fortunate to work alongside such a highly skilled, creative leader in Amy Craddock, Agile Advisory & Activation Team Leader (Events & Marketing) together with a stellar team, it also served as a testament to her forward thinking approach overseeing the events area to seek out from across the globe a thought partner with a TV and digital executive background to unearth the strategic and creative promise of virtual and hybrid events and deliver best in class audience experiences to PwC customers, partners and team members. Although quite a very different setting versus a professional football team, the common comparison to the Arizona Cardinals was that like any successful team (events or otherwise) standing still was not an option and bringing on board someone not entrenched in legacy to see around corners and navigate blind spots was vital especially as the transformation to digital accelerates change.

Finally when it comes to YoungBoy, as one of the most popular rappers in the country (according to Billboard the first hip-hop artist to have a No. 1 album in each of the last three years 2021, 2020 & 2019 with his music streamed over 6 billion times) his unorthodox ascension provides great lessons to everyone involved in events, conferences and trade shows. As his music took off exclusively online with very little radio play (nothing unusual here), this was all accomplished while currently incarcerated in a Louisiana prison. Certainly not recommending for any law abiding citizen isolation in a cell block to seek success, but as digital rapidly extends reach and increases engagement like a fast burning prairie fire, the power of a global, rabid community of fans broke open the four walls.

With an unconventional release strategy, YoungBoy and his label Atlantic Records brazenly changed the game. As reported to the New York Times music reporter, Joe Coscarelli?“using the passion and the artist’s unavailability as a rallying point, YoungBoy’s team tapped into his deep reserves of audio and video material while communing directly with his listeners to shape the new album and it’s release strategy.” As I have advised clients and have mentioned in prior speaking engagements and on industry panels including earlier this year on one hosted by the Virtual Events Institute and sponsored by tech platform Glisser having a continuous, integrated content strategy that builds community is critical in order to have a sustainable business model of serving audiences versus the traditional, one and done or as I have said “the circus comes to town, tent goes up for three days, tent comes down, we’ll see you all next year.” There’s really no retention objective for events, right now it is mostly a game of repetitive acquisition hoping your attendees come back every year. With a trend accelerated by Covid, many Gen Z and digital native millennials are warily reassessing their personal, business and communication priorities (including attending events and conferences in-person). As an Atlantic Records executive commented “he [YoungBoy] hasn’t always been the artist that some of the gatekeepers have let into these other spaces. That makes his fan base even more rabid.” Could we be seeing as such in the future a “Barbarians at the Gate” moment of upcoming change in the business resonating from the upcoming generation of future leaders??

In summary, I published a blog one year ago with an outlier perspective coming from my background as a TV/digital executive as well as experience in the B2B corporate events and conferences sector at a speakers bureau. The article touched on many areas from programming, content, audience engagement, marketing, community, sponsorships, technology and organization’s internal/ external resources all under the premise that “what got you here, won’t get you there.”?

Fast forward as we quickly approach 2022 with many lessons learned from these past 20 months, there’s some that find it too blindly (possibly naively) irresistible to either step back into a kind of 2019 time machine to recreate the past or attempt to try and directly replicate those various practices and processes dropped onto a tech platform and hoping for the best.

As I pointed out recently as a featured speaker at an event industry conference, there’s no putting the genie back in the bottle. Your audience, customers, sponsors and various constituents expect more and frankly deserve better. Digital transformation is being dictated by your customers in the B2B journey, changed overall consumer behavior from the pandemic and audience’s content expectation of available screen based high touch storytelling and experiences anytime, anywhere available through multiple channels (including in-person if preferred). ?

In the age of the Metaverse, NFTs and Clubhouse real transformation requires not a lift and shift/rinse and repeat reaction of reopening conferences where ones’ footprints were last left on the ground pre-pandemic, but a reimagined creative playbook and a fresh mindset fostered and driven by innovation, new business models and forward thinking leaders that might possibly find inspiration and answers from The Simpsons, Balenciaga, the Arizona Cardinals and YoungBoy.

Bob Mitchell,?named as one of the most influential people in virtual events is currently principal of his independent consulting firm, Mitchell Partnership Alliances which he advises numerous organizations such as PwC, USO, NAB (National Association of Broadcasters), A&E Networks and many others on growth strategies providing guidance and leadership at the intersection of events, content, platforms, audiences and partnerships. His TV and digital media background as a marketing and business development executive at such organizations as:?Viacom, Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment, NBC, Madison Square Garden Entertainment as well as digital startups combined with his management oversight of a B2B events based speakers bureau provides him an unique perspective on the business of storytelling and audience experiences with virtual and hybrid events at the core. ??

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