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White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group, Kansas City, MO, USA

Creating repeat attendance

Over the past few years, articles in our enewsletter have we discussed the decline in the repeat appeal of location-based entertainment venues (LBEs) due to:

• Commoditization - The 2^nd time you have an experience, it is not as good as the first. The 3^rd time you have an experience, it is not as good as the 2^nd. Customers say, "Been there, done that." Instead of repeating it, they move on to something new.
• Novelty seeking - It's human nature to seek new experiences rather than repeat ones. Our brains are hard-wired by evolution to crave novelty. The desire for novelty, to explore something new, is rooted in enabling us to learn something new about our environments and how to survive. Novelty triggers the production of dopamine, making us feel good, which, in turn, increases a person's motivation to seek more novelty.
• Conspicuous leisure & social media - In the experience economy, participation in leisure and entertainment experiences has become a priority. The dimension of status and self-identity, the measure of social capital, has shifted from owning envious stuff to participating in envious experiences. Today, what you do now matters way more than what you own. Especially for young adults, an impressive selfie capturing a memorable leisure experience is as enviable as a new car or fancy watch was to their parents. Conspicuous consumption of goods is out, conspicuous leisure consumption is in.
• Social currency - To get people to spend their leisure time and money at any out-of-home (OOH) experience, it's essential to capture their attention in an increasingly distractible world, where a wide array of options for spending that time are available. The growth of social media has amplified the importance of experiences as status and social currency. Seeing people's conspicuous leisure postings on social media generates that attention and motivates people to experience things they otherwise might never have known about.
• FOMO - Experience postings on social media results in FOMO (fear of missing out), creating the desire and motivation to participate in the same experiences that people are doing, to "keep up with the Jones." This has increased conspicuous leisure, participation in and posting of as many unique, novel, and admirable experiences as possible and to not miss out on anything. Conspicuous leisure consumption amplified by social media postings and resulting FOMO have become significant motivations for participating in as wide a variety of out-of-home (OOH) experiences as possible, rather than repeating a few.
• Almost limitless OOH leisure options - Amplifying the desire for new and unique OOH leisure experience is the recent and growing explosion of OOH options that are now almost limitless. At the beginning of the 21st century, community-based entertainment venues were limited to a small variety of family entertainment centers. In the last decade, we have seen a massive expansion of new types of LBEs and other entertainment options. Now there is little reason to repeat the visit to any OOH venue or event due to the growing expansion of the wide variety of OOH options, including the growth of the number of festivals, live events, foodie-worthy restaurants, breweries, distilleries, and wineries that satisfy conspicuous leisure consumption and for posting on social media.

So how can LBEs overcome the "been there, done that" and the resulting loss of repeat appeal? The answer is not to stay static and solely rely on entertainment attractions. Instead, offer novelty, a never-changing selection of unique and new events.

Here are some of those unique events that Ocean5 (www.o5social.com/ ) , an LBE our company designed and helped produce, has offered this year to drive repeat business:

• Havana Nights - Cuban dinner and cigar tasting
• Film to table- multi-course dining experience where each dish is timed to the movie on screen (e.g., Dirty Dancing/Wayne's World)
• Princess for a Day - Day with your favorite fairy tale princess
• Salsa & Bachata Date night- Dance lessons
• Awkward Family Portrait Night - Professional portraits and selfie stations, cocktails, picture frame decorating
• Comedy Shows
• Live Music
• Singles Mixers/Speed Dating Mixers
• Theme Music night (80's 90's)
• Trivia Nights
• Besties night out: Portrait sessions and crafts
• Karaoke on the Lanes
• Sip and Paint/Art Class

Today, regular and changing unique limited-time events are required to drive repeat LBE attendance. Attractions alone won't achieve it for the majority of the population.

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