Garth and the Powers of Scarcity

February 10, 2014

“Blame it all on my roots…” I can hear it already!

Yep, you guessed it, Garth Brooks madness has descended upon us, the hype, excitement, the rush to get tickets and even the unhealthy need to feel like line dancing again… OK, well maybe not the latter, but it certainly does seem to have taken over the country by storm.

In the aftermath of the ticket scramble, I can fortunately say that I came out of the rush with a golden ticket. A great friend took it upon herself to queue for 15 hours in the depths of January, and I am truly grateful to her for her powerful and determined effort.

Throughout the madness, I couldn’t help wondering why we put ourselves through it all when Mr. Brooks has just announced his extra fifth concert in Ireland next Summer – surely we all saw this coming? We know this routine well at this stage, so why didn’t we act accordingly?

Did we become swept away by the hype of the PR and advertising and the power of scarcity?

Those of us who remember, are very aware of Garth’s on-stage presence that swept through 90’s Ireland making an impact on the landscape of the decade.

I can’t say I’ve ever seen him in concert before, but I certainly have been a fan since the 90’s. Is his stage presence and talent really going to make those all-night queuing binges in the depths of January well worth it?

I certainly hope so!

Is it simply down to his genuine popularity, the good PR and Advertising or is it more a fear of missing out if we don’t get tickets?

The powers of the media are certainly at play here when you see photos of 20 year old’s queuing all night for tickets. Seeing as most of them probably don’t remember the 90’s, have they really been bitten by the country music singers talent bug or are they just craving to be a part of what has been advertised as ‘the latest craze’?.

Are we all to blame here with rational thinking going out the window and a frenzy driven by a fear of losing out?

I know I certainly am.

With all the promotion and hype that became involved, people’s greed and opportunism surfaced incredibly. Sadly people went out of their way just to snap up tickets and sell them on at three times the value while walking out of the ticket outlets, just to leave genuine fans out in the cold…literally!

All of the above could have been avoided if all 5 concerts had just been announced at once.

We potentially would have missed the hype, excitement and the anticipation of praying for the ticket phone line to be answered if all five concerts had been released together.

The power of scarcity…is this the best tactic of all?

Máire Coffey is a PR Executive with Fuzion