Audiences continue to seek out new, niche and novel experiences in search of deeper, more meaningful engagement. Follow along the report for full insights and key, actionable takeaways. This month’s trends spotted by GPJ Strategists Josh Fischer and Meghan Michalski.
1. Scarcity seekers collect one-of-a-kind experiences
Niche hobbyists are forming new communities around
aesthetic rarities.
While old hobbies like sports card collecting are booming, new ones—like designer ball python breeding—are emerging online and IRL. Card collectors film themselves making trades and “live-breaking”—opening packs in search of Willy Wonka-like golden tickets, such as novel Tom Brady baseball cards or others with “authentic” game-worn jerseys built into them. More mundane (yet still limited) items are going viral and commanding high price points with limited edition Stanley cups and a $2.99 Trader Joe’s mini-tote bag reselling for hundreds of dollars.
What it Means
Overnight delivery and digital algorithms can make collecting easy—see what the Amazon algorithm recommends, and simply click buy. Hobbyists push back by seeking out the hyper-unique while finding each other online in specialty marketplaces like Whatnot, a social marketplace where you can buy all sorts of collectibles via livestream.
Key Takeaway
In an era of endless content, the quest for scarcity adds value—particularly when it grants status within niche communities. Rather than relying on FOMO and exclusivity alone, brands can take it a step further by designing experiences laced with easter eggs and oddities aligning to unique audience interests.
2. Scent-sational experiences are multiplying
Artists and designers are using scent to make experiences more memorable.
The use of scent has been everywhere recently from the art world, to children’s museums, to brand activations. Korean artist Koo Jeong A’s “scent map” presents the smells of Korea for her country’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale. And a new dinosaur exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences takes visitors “back to the cretaceous” with scents and sounds conjuring an ancient forest. Luxury clothing brand Zegna brought the forest to Milan Design Week, while numerous brand activations at SXSW Austin tapped into the olfactory with a fresh-smelling Tide product launch and Porsche-shaped car air fresheners.
What it Means
As evidence mounts around how rich sensory experiences are beneficial for learning and memory, multisensory engagement is becoming widespread. A phenomenon dubbed the Proust Effect even claims that nostalgic memories triggered by taste and smell have an even more positive emotional profile than nostalgic memories elicited by other means.
Key Takeaway
Experience designers would be remiss not to tap into such a powerful and underutilized faculty as scent. A selective and sensational use of scent has enormous potential to punctuate moments and make experiences more memorable.
3. Experiencing everything is getting harder
Consumers grapple between the desire to experience excitement and novelty, while still maintaining their financial stability.
In a post-COVID world where comparison culture and a ‘carpe diem’ mentality thrive, consumers (and brands) seek experiences that often feel extreme–whether physically, financially, or both. From the Barkley Marathon, a near-impossible athletic feat with an elevation gain equivalent to summiting Mount Everest twice, participation in hustle culture and “loud budgeting” are also increasing while more and more brands are gamifying fin-ed basics.
What it Means
The paradox of consumers wanting to experience everything, while also trying to adopt responsible financial behaviors underscores the growing tension between our present and future selves. While consumers want to discover one-of-a-kind experiences, they’re also painfully aware of economic realities. In a world of funflation, they are finding themselves forced to make hard decisions.
Key Takeaway
Brands, marketers and experience designers should focus on intentionality to create experiences that are both exciting and purposeful, and validate people’s desire to attend. Brands should also consider experimenting with tiered access, incentives, and discounts to help mitigate against economic realities.
4. Rap’s biggest luminaries trade diss tracks in real-time
Kendrick and Drake’s epic feud resurfaced, spawning 9 diss tracks, captivating fans, and igniting public discourse.
The ’diss’ is essential to hip hop, and the Internet has only accelerated this tradition. The 10+ year feud between Pulitzer laureate Kendrick Lamar and commercial juggernaut Drake climaxed between March and May. Fans got 9 brand new tracks, with each release poetically challenging the former. The rappers utilized different social platforms to release new music, sandwiched by cryptic social media posts; both even removed copyrights allowing influencers to stream their reactions freely. The outcome? One of the rap genre’s most explosive, captivating, and extensively analyzed battles in its 50-year history.
What it Means
During global challenges, people seek distraction to cope. The feud dominated headlines and fans were immersed in what felt like a real-time experience–in contrast to the lengthy, hyper-produced content typical for artists of this magnitude. The beef reignited fan energy showing how hungry we are for authentic engagement.
Key Takeaway
These tracks doubled Kendrick’s YOY output, while streams of his back catalog have risen by 50%. Brands and marketers can draw inspiration from this phenomenon, which exemplifies how real-time narratives fueled by authentic engagement, emotional investment, and fandom can drive action and build brand supremacy.
OUT-THERE EXPERIENCES
People, brands and marketers continue to push the boundaries of physical and digital experiences, with new and creative executions popping up across the globe.
The recent 2024 Mill Valley Music Festival became the first-ever U.S-based festival to operate entirely on renewable energy, in the form of mobile zero-emission batteries.
Nospace, a Y2K-inspired, soon-to-be-launched social media network targeting Gen Z, is generating significant buzz and anticipation ahead of its launch in June.
Mattel is evolving an old classic with Pictionary Vs. AI, which updates the legacy game by leveraging AI for image recognition and player interaction.
Meow Wolf co-founder Corvas Brinkerhoff is building an immersive, out-of-this-world spa experience in Austin, TX.
Catch up on all our previous Experience Intelligence reports. Or schedule a strategy session with us!
