Winning The Emotion Game

Let’s talk football. Everyone is. The showdown between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks has the ingredients of a wildly exciting contest.

From the Patriots and Coach Belichick’s now famous mantra, #doyourjob to the 12th man fever in Seattle, the airwaves are buzzing with predictions, inspirational quotes, and tales of underdogs and champions.  There’s a lot of emotion in the air, and emotion is important.

In the end, the whole story will be about results.  And, for those of us in the event industry, results are the end game every time we produce a live experience.

Great live experiences are engaging, stimulating, and they stir the senses and evoke emotion.  Emotion is where results live. We are talking about positive emotional audiences and the viral reactions they drive. Emotion creates conversation, drives participation and encourages engagement.

Let’s use a Super Bowl analogy. Last year an estimated 111.5 million people watched the Denver v. Seahawks matchup.  Sports lover or not, most people get caught up in the excitement and emotion that surrounds the event – and that means big results.

Take a look at some fun facts and results driven by the American passion for the game:

1. The National Chicken Council predicted that last year; people would eat over a 1.25 billion pieces of America’s favorite snack - chicken wings - during Super Bowl.
2. According to the USDA, Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest eating day in America - second only to Thanksgiving.
3. Dominos Pizza expects to serve over 11 million slices of pizza to fans.
4. Produce growers benefit from the consumption of those healthy veggie trays, which are the number one food eaten at Super Bowl parties  - (with dip, of course), says the NPD Group.
5. About that dip – another favorite of fans while watching the game….cheese, ranch, salsa, you name it - it is not a party without the dip!  Have you ever been to a party where there wasn’t any?  Awkward.
6. And then there are potato chips. 11.2 million pounds are consumed totaling 27 billion calories and 1.8 billion grams of fat per the Calorie Control Council and Snack Food Association. Also, let's not forget the tortilla chips – all 8.7 million pounds of them. Wait, what?  There is a "Calorie Control" Council?  That strikes a funny bone, but we digress.
7. With all those salty chips, everyone needs something to wash them down.  Most Americans choose beer as their favorite beverage during football to the tune of 51.7 million cases being sold per The Nielson Company.
8. Don’t feel like cooking?  The National Restaurant Association estimates that 48 million people ordered take out or delivery rather than cooking at home in 2014. That number will surely go up with two of America’s favorite teams in the game.
9. Does anyone know how many paper napkins and paper plates are used on Super Bowl Sunday?  The things that make us go hmmmm!
10. Do you know the cost of a television spot during Super Bowl? It is an estimated $4M per 30 second spot...but with an audience of 111.5 million (2014) that is just .36 cents per viewer or potential customer.  Let’s hope Americans love the Big Game match-up on February 1st as much as they did last year!

Americans and their fervent passion surrounding a sporting event fuel all of the amazing results we just listed.  As event professionals, achieving this level of passionately emotive reaction should be our goal every time we design a live experience.  They may be on a smaller scale and not as statistically driven, or as huge as the Super Bowl, but just as intense.  Emotion drives reaction, reaction drives action, and action drives results and for those of us in the live event industry, that means winning the game!

Watch to this game time speech from Any Given Sunday with Al Pacino, put on your game face, go out and #DoYourJob and get your 12th man screaming about the great results you helped them achieve.  Rawwwwwr!

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