Silent Disco: Should brands join the party? (Blog)

In 2019, I attended a silent disco crawl, which also involved a tour of Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market in Boston. This was my first time attending a silent disco, and I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable the entire experience was. For those unaware of this concept, here is a helpful explanation from InStyle, “A surreal social experience in which people dance to music via distributed wireless headphones. In lieu of one unified speaker system, three different songs are sent simultaneously to each receiver.” In my case, we had two different channels, and the music ranged from popular songs from the 80s and 90s to electronic dance music. I believe that this quote by William Petz, founder and CEO of Quiet Events, a New York-based party equipment rental service and event management company, captures an important aspect of a silent disco that contributes to its appeal. He said, “You don’t need to find friends that like one specific genre. You have the ability to listen to all different types of music at the same party.” And when you discover a song that all your friends enjoy, the entire group can switch to the same channel and dance to the same music. You can party together, without necessarily being at the same ‘party’ in terms of the music. A silent disco is also a great way to tackle the issue of noise pollution, which is what prompted eco-activists in the early ‘90s to develop the concept. Eventually, ‘silent disco’ became widespread after it was introduced at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2005. Today, people, especially millennials, crave experiences. Brands cannot simply use loud advertising techniques to generate interest among consumers about their products. Inc.com mentioned a study by Harris Group, which found that “72 percent of millennials would rather open their wallets based on experiences rather than on material items.” Therefore, it has become essential for brands to provide consumers with experiences to ensure greater engagement with them. I believe that the silent disco provides a good avenue for brands to explore for the purpose of experiential marketing, especially if they operate within the music, music streaming or wearable devices space. Brands can sponsor the silent disco experience. Companies that manufacture headphones can tie-up with these companies to provide their products to consumers for the event and gather responses, or use such events to gauge audience opinion of a new product. Besides these, music streaming services like Spotify could host a silent disco party as a promotional event to engage with users. The companies could have three different channels featuring songs from popular playlists on their platforms. These are some of the ways in which, I believe, brands could use this tool to connect with their audience. I thought it would be interesting to see whether brands were already using this technique as a promotional tool. According to Campaign, in 2015, “Sony recently hosted a ‘hi res’ silent disco with publication Time Out in London, as part of its #ICan campaign to promote the Xperia Z3+ smartphone…Guests were also given the chance to gain access to the experience’s VIP area throughout the evening, where Sony had installed listening booths so partiers could sample the brand’s Hi-Res Audio headphones and the Xperia Z3+.” Therefore, I think brands should judge whether they can use the silent disco as a promotional tool to provide their users with an interesting and enjoyable experience.