Back To Basics - How Experience Giants are Building on the Principles of Intimacy
It’s no secret that the experiential industry has reached a tipping point in recent years. Consumers have been largely desensitized to outlandish marketing stunts. Beyond that, brands often feel pressured to out-do themselves, competing for consumers’ ever-shrinking attention span and continued media coverage. If you’ve wanted to curate an experience for your audience, staying relevant is no longer the name of the game. Experiences still have the power to build the advocacy and loyalty you’re looking for from your audience, but it’s time to set your sights on moments that foster intimacy and offer an increased number of personalized touch points. Going into 2021, your brand should be thinking about hosting more intimate gatherings than building splashy photo moments.
Industry pros are catching onto this trend and building on one basic cornerstone of gathering together - one that likely drew them to event planning in the first place - the dinner party. The simplicity of the idea is almost ironic, but all of the basic principles of intimacy come from this everyday experience that has been widely overlooked in favor of content creation. Maneesh Goyal, serial entrepreneur, angel investor and former CEO of MKG recently started Tabletop By Maneesh - a passion project showcasing the tablescapes he curates for friends, family and business that highlights the beauty of gathering together to break bread. Top experiential figure David Stark whose agency goes by the same name has also leaned into featuring tablescapes on the agency’s Instagram in recent months. Additionally, brands like Social Studies are renting out tablescapes to the masses and inspiring people to focus on fostering togetherness, starting at home… at the table.
“The simplicity of the idea is almost ironic, but all of the basic principles of intimacy come from this everyday experience that has been widely overlooked in favor of content creation.”
Here at Everyday Experiential™, we believe in pulling together extraordinary experiences from ordinary everyday elements to build intimacy between your brand and your consumer base. Needless to say, we’re all in on the tablescape trend and hope it’s here to stay. That said, here are some tips & tricks for putting together your next tablescape along with some advice on who to invite to your intimate gathering.
Decide how your meal will be served - are you serving up family-style eats, plated courses, buffet-style stations or some mixture of those things?* This will determine the logistics you need to work out in the initial stages. Things like food lamps, sternos, additional tables for buffet style service and serving utensils should all be considered.
Choose a color palette - pull some inspo from one of the above Instagram accounts, or create a Pinterest board of images that tell the story you want. Most stores that sell table decor and serve ware put their collections on display and place complimentary decor items close to each other on shelves. It might be worth taking a walk through Target if Pinterest and Instagram give you decision fatigue.
Remember that intimacy is the name of the game - good customer service is a good experience. Be sure to put just as much effort into making guests feel taken care of as you do making the table look pretty. This doesn’t always mean providing gifts or swag - just make a memorable evening your focus.
Obsess over the guest list - if you’re inviting a room full of strangers to share a space, ask yourself what they have in common and why you’re inviting them to literally have a seat at your table. Don’t feel bad for being picky - putting thought into who you invite up front can alleviate awkward tensions and ensure that your guests have the opportunity to mingle effortlessly with each other while you focus on being a divine host.
The underlying message in this trend is to always go back to basics, and we couldn’t agree more. Wild experiential campaigns surely have their place in the marketing world, but the principles of intimacy and the most basic form of togetherness will always stand the test of time. This holiday season, gather together*, embrace the simple beauty of sharing food, wine, smiles and laughter, and let the memory be the most important souvenir.
*ALWAYS comply with COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines in effect in your state, county, etc. If you plan on having an intimate gathering, don’t be shy about having your guests procure negative test results prior to confirming your guest count. Please stay safe and ensure that you are curating experiences responsibly.