Will the Museum of Ice Cream Survive the Coronavirus?
The Museum of Ice Cream — the pinnacle of younger generations’ frothy “experience economy” — might not survive the coronavirus.
If you’re unfamiliar with the cultural phenomenon of MOIC, Instagram probably isn’t your go-to social media platform. Contrary to its name, MOIC is not a museum, nor is there a strong relationship to the sweet dessert. Instead, it’s a photoshoot-friendly exhibit — multi-sensory, interactive, hyper-visual — consisting of brightly-colored rooms with technicolor popsicles, hanging bananas, or the public’s favorite: a giant pool of sprinkles.
When MOIC launched in New York City as a summer pop-up in 2016, it sold more than 300,000 tickets — worth around $5.4 million — in its first five days. Since then, it has landed a permanent location in San Francisco and expanded its NYC venue to a 25,000-square-foot space. The “Instagram aesthetic” has become synonymous with MOIC’s millennial pink walls and quirky backdrops; after all, it was a “spectacle worthy of the finest Instagram filter.”
When I visited MOIC a few years ago, I felt a little embarrassed. With only 340 Instagram followers, I’m far from being an avid social media user, despite being Gen Z. I sometimes use the term “#basic” disparagingly to describe devoted Instagrammers with highly curated feeds. But, as a marketer whose…
