Instagram-Playgrounds: The Future of Advertising?
Just got my $38 ticket to check out DREAM MACHINE, the new interactive installation in Brooklyn (pics above). It opened on April 5th and runs through the end of May.
- Paige Solomon created the installation with her partner Gary Johnson. She explains the experience as walking through a waking dream over the course of nine rooms, each set up with surreal visuals straight from our dream state.
- And, of course, each room offers a perfect Instagram opportunity.
- What’s brilliant about the concept is that we, the paying customers, are also gladly providing free advertising for the business by posting our experiences on instagram.
This past week I also checked out two other instagram extravaganzas: The Egg House, an $18 Instagram experience developed by a recent graduate of Parsons, and the Sustain Pop-Up devoted to the vaginal ecosystem (complete with lube fountain and vagina costumes for instagram ops).
But it was not until I shelled out my $38 for the Dream Machine that I had my aha moment about how these instagram-experiences had evolved from weekend pop-ups to stand-alone, highly monetizable businesses.
- Being instagram-worthy was just the start.
- Today, creative entrepreneurs are using the platform to develop full-fledged event businesses that not only provide instagram-experiences but also offer sponsor brands unequaled, experiential marketing opportunities.
- Think about these new interactive experiences as a new form of amusement park with “you” at the center.
- Credit may have to go to Maryellis Bunn (some have called her the millennial Walt Disney). She opened the Museum of Ice Cream in NYC in 2016 (now also in San Francisco and Miami). 30,000 tickets, at $38 a pop, sold in the first 5 days. Over $1MM netted in her first 5 days in operation. Plus the ticket waiting list ran 200,000 names deep. Impressive!
Read on below for more examples of this new category of instagram businesses including some of the major innovators in the space.
MUSEUM OF ICE CREAM (380K followers on IG)
Per CN Traveler:
- The first Museum of Ice Cream opened in NYC in July 2016 and immediately went viral, thanks to the instagrammable aesthetic of the museum’s swimming pool of rainbow sprinkles and other millennial pink accouterments. Tickets to each of the locations continue to regularly sell out.
THE COLOR FACTORY SF (105K IG followers)
Opened in August 2017 and sold out ever since ($35 a ticket).
Per Business Insider:
- The candy-coated exhibit includes 15 interactive “experiences” — each centered on a different color — spread across two stories and 12,000 square feet.
- Originally intended to run through September 2017, the Color Factory has been extended and sold out non-stop through 2018.
- Jordan Ferney, creator of lifestyle blog Oh Happy Day and the brains behind The Color Factory, told Business Insider that everything from the lighting temperature to the high-end cameras placed strategically across the exhibition, was conceived with Instagrammers in mind.
- Color Factory sponsors include Alaska Airlines and Method.
REFINERY 29/ 29 ROOMS (92K IG followers)
Started in Brooklyn in 2015, now in its third year with annual events in NYC and LA.
The New York Times called it a “creative playhouse for the Instagram set.”
- Started as a way to celebrate the publisher’s 10-year anniversary in 2015.
- The following year, took things up a notch by tying to New York Fashion Week, opening it up to the public and signing companies including Disney, Ford and Michael Kors to create branded installations.
- The pop-up event has now grown into a profitable linchpin of the company’s growing events business.
- Seven of the 29 rooms are sponsored, along with four displays ranging from a lounge to wall art. Sponsors include Casper and snack maker Lärabar.
- The event sold tickets for the first time in 2017, at $19 apiece.
- 20,000 people came to a warehouse in Williamsburg, for the sold out third year.
- Instagram was packed with neon contraceptive signs, glittering disco balls, and giant flowers (#sorrynotsorry).
- “It’s kind of the dream for brands,” Refinery29 co-founder Philippe von Borries said. “Refinery29 understands how to help brands engage an audience.”
As it’s grown, 29Rooms has joined the Museum of Ice Cream and the Color Factory on the list of Instagram-optimized funhouses that have become certifiable catnip for millennials.
Newly opened in Glendale (LA) — scheduled to be open thru end of May. Tickets are $25 (a bargain!)
The museum, which is set in a former department store, includes a timeline of the selfie from the first cave painting to Facebook and mobile phone cameras.
Tommy Honton is the curator and co-founder with Tair Mamedov.
The Egg House is an egg-themed pop-up space in New York City with six rooms of immersive instagrammable installations and interactive experiences. Tickets are $18.
Curator Vivian Cai, 30, is a Parsons graduate from Beijing.
Bottom Line.
As word gets out on how profitable instagram-centric pop ups can be — and as empty storefronts proliferate — we will see many more creative entrepreneurs developing themed experiences built around the instagram platform.
Some of these will turn out to be scalable and more easily monetized than others.
Also, look for the best of these creators to build separate and highly profitable consulting businesses. Companies will seek them out to help them develop more engaging and creative ways to connect with younger customers.
