The Power of Pop-Up Events

With tonight’s “Power to the Pop-Up” talk and networking event taking place in Shoreditch, we take a closer look at the benefits of the mighty pop-up in relation to events and business.

With off-the-shelf events fast becoming a thing of the past, clients expect customised, unique, inclusive events which better connect their consumers and audiences to their products or services through experiential practices, whilst maintaining a strong brand message.

Unsurprisingly, if you want to occupy a pop-up space for an event, you’re not left in the dark when searching for the perfect spot; amongst the vast catalogue of venue experts is a branch of agents for this specific type of property. Already appealing to many designers, start-ups, luxury fashion houses and global corporations like Apple, innovative services such as Appear Here facilitate the lease of temporary or pop-up spaces at short notice.

Whether your intention is to launch a high-tech gadget, advertise a designer retail collection, showcase emerging young musical talent or run occasional supper clubs, the validity of the temporary pop-up cannot be denied. Technology is paramount, but so is marketing, and what pop-ups allow you to do is generate a very big buzz about your event in a very short window of time.

Consumers increasingly seek one-off experiences which spark conversation and allow them to participate in something tangible and interactive. They want to be surprised by diverse event spaces; the more unusual the better, and the event production industry has to keep up with their ever-growing demands. By offering a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it experience in a pop-up space, the potential for creating hype within short time frames is powerfully magnified.

As seen with the success of Boxpark and Pop Brixton, the rise of the shipping container has brought about a shift in thinking where venue-finding is concerned, even for long-term businesses. No longer seen with a purely industrial purpose, these bare shells are now being recognised as adaptable blank canvases, inviting creative transformation for any type of event or service, and allowing them to pop up anywhere, anytime. Whether you choose somewhere clearly relevant to your industry with naturally high foot traffic, or somewhere intriguingly obscure or remote, high volumes of visitors can be coaxed along with clever marketing and social media campaigns in the run up to the event. People simply do not want to miss out on events which sound exciting and run for limited periods.

The events industry also continues to see a huge rise in the popularity of festival-style street food catering. Where pop-ups appear, portable street food vendors will naturally follow, in turn attracting more people to your event.

Thanks to their potential for short-term leases, pop-ups are also of particular appeal to start-ups and charities in their marketing campaigns, providing them with the opportunity to make a statement or increase awareness in short, sharp bursts. Even the simplest idea can be turned into an event, and a key example of this was the H2Only Bar which opened for one day in Shoreditch, featured nothing but a single cold water tap. The sole beverage available – tap water – was to the public from cardboard cups, in a bid to encourage Londoners to drink only water for ten consecutive days in a fundraising drive for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The event was a prime example that with the right event management, publicity and location a pop-up campaign or event can have real impact within a community.