Pop-up fatigue? 45% of Britons say pop-up events are just expensive Instagram opportunities
Pop-ups don’t discriminate - there’s one from most brands, from most industries. From fashion labels (Prada recently concluded its UK pop-up tour) and streaming shows (Netflix’s Heartstopper hosted a pop-up this month), to beverage brands and even musicians (American artist Jack White will accompany the launch of his latest single with pop-up events in the UK).
But do pop-up activations catch Brits’ fancy? What do they make of it?
“Pop-up events are just expensive Instagram opportunities”
According to data from YouGov Profiles, which covers demographic, psychographic, attitudinal and behavioural consumer metrics, 45% of Brits think “pop-up events are just expensive Instagram opportunities.” As for respondents across generations, Gen Z is the most likely (55%) to agree with the statement, followed by Millennials (50%).
Nearly half of all men agree too (48%) - a fewer proportion of women share this opinion (42%).
“Pop-up events are a waste of time”
Three in ten Britons (31%) agree with the statement that pop-up events are a waste of time. Gen Z - a coveted target audience for a lot of brands - are the most likely to agree (42%), followed by Millennials (33%) and similar proportions of Gen X (26%) and Baby Boomers (25%). Over a third of men (36%) feel the same, so do over a quarter of women (26%).
“I’m always aware of what pop-up events are near me”
For brands that wish to engage potential customers through pop-up events, more work needs to be done to let people know about the ones coming up. Fewer than two in ten of Britons (18%) say they’re aware of the pop-up events being held near them. As for Profiles’ demographic data, we see that Gen Z (28%) and Millennial (25%) respondents are most likely to say they are aware of pop-up events near them, while Baby Boomers (10%) are the least likely to agree.
Less than one in five men (19%) and women (17%) are aware of pop-up events around them.
Not just pop-ups, most Brits don’t have a very positive view of events brands hold in general, Profiles data suggests.
Most believe that brand events are yet another money-making venture with 80% of Britons agreeing that such events are just another way to make money. Men are more likely than women (82% vs. 78%) to believe this.
However, that doesn’t seem to mean that Britons have written off brand events completely. A majority say they’re selective when it comes to choosing a brand event to attend (80%).
Further, women take the lead in saying brands should consider environmental sustainability (78% vs. 71%) and diversity and inclusion (70% vs. 57%) when organising events.
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Methodology: YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for Great Britain is nationally representative of the online population and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.
Photo by Kate Darmody on Unsplash