The power of FOMO in our brains

I am a huge Coldplay fan. The last time I saw them live was on December 31, 2016. It was one of the best New Year’s Eve celebrations of my life!

Last week, it was announced that Coldplay would be playing in Abu Dhabi on January 11, 2025. I immediately registered on their page to participate in the Pre-Sale, then registered on Ticketmaster to get the tickets on time, and took all the steps a fan would take to get in line.

The Pre-Sale was set to start at 12:00 pm today. I got an email with an early access link, followed all requirements, and went online “early”, at 11:40 am, to be more than on time. Then I saw a button to join the Waiting room. What waiting room? No one mentioned this…. so I did. And there I was, in a queue, with 78,000 people ahead of me. On a location for 40,000… What?

The queue started moving… but I knew it would be impossible to get a ticket. At 12:30, the queue stopped at 53,454 and remained unchanged for about 45 minutes.?

Then I got a notification saying it was almost sold out and that a new date, the 12, had been opened.

My FOMO clicked—badly. I got in the queue. It started up at almost 39,000…. and it started to go down fast. My head figured out the possible causes, which, of course, included international companies buying tickets to resell…. It went down. I was 1,685 for almost an hour, and I started losing hope.?

I started knowing that many people skipped work today, worked from home, or stopped in the middle of the road and in the middle of their journey to get in a queue. I felt terrible. How would our Fear of Missing Out on an event push us so hard as to stop prioritising other things that matter? How would companies use this anxiety to profit from passion and love for something to make money?

We all fell for that trap today.

Abu Dhabi will be the only location in the Middle East for Coldplay’s tour next year. We all felt we were missing out if we didn’t get tickets today

We all stared at our screens for hours on what we initially thought would have been an hour at most.?

We all cried, complained, texted, and shouted when the news of Sold Out tickets came out.

That is love from a fan. IYKYK!!!!

I still didn’t want to close the browser. I am always waiting for a "what if"… for this little silver lining…. for the full glass instead of the empty one.

Something told me in my resilient nature not to give up. That’s not me. That has never been me.

So I left it open….

Three hours with that page, unrefreshed, untouched, active in hopes to see some number going down….

Then it said 5 people were ahead of me.

Five? WHAT?

And then I got a message saying I had to join the queue.

We all thought this would have a happy ending, didn’t we?

Well…. I clicked on Join the queue…. again. Thinking “This is how you screw up”. But I clicked nonetheless.

It opened the page where very few tickets were still available—not where I wanted, but somewhere inside.

My silver lining went from Gold to General, but it still was a silver lining!

I managed to start the purchase. I only had 9 minutes and 59 seconds to complete the purchase. Horror stories had been circulating through the lucky ones getting there about not having their cards accepted, pages not refreshing, payments not going through….

I never felt so much pressure to type the correct OTP.

Or my email address.

Or my name.?

Every second I spent making mistakes would mean I couldn’t get the tickets.

You only have 10 minutes to hold your position in the queue.

The FOMO today didn’t feel good. I wouldn’t say it was anything like adrenaline, but an overwhelming fear of frustration, more than anything else. It didn’t feel good to know I was played into and fell into the trap through my passion or love for a brand I care about.

It felt even worse when another date was announced after selling out for the second time.

Why?

Why use fans’ and consumers’ love and passion and stretch it to the point of breaking it?

Do brands need to do this? Is it really necessary to scratch so hard into wants and needs that it hurts? Are brands aware that overusing and abusing this FOMO can harm their love for a brand?

As a fan, I answer, No. It is not necessary.

As a consumer, I answer, No. It is not fair.

As a brand strategist, I answer, No. It is not right.

Manage expectations so you won’t have to deal with frustrations.

Don’t do this as a brand to your consumers.

You can go from love to despise in a very short time.

Don’t abuse FOMO. You could end up missing out on your loyal customers.

Even if they manage to get a ticket after almost 4 hours.

(Quiet yay in my brain for this)