The Power of Spontaneity: How Authenticity and Genuine Moments Drive Engagement and Publicity

Thanks to the Internet and social networks, entertainment has diversified and expanded, and many people are engaged in this activity. According to a recent study, the public loves to see athletes and artists behaving spontaneously, for their impromptu catchphrases, dramatic outings, impromptu set lists, etc., as they make the artists seem more authentic and genuine.

According to an article published in the Journal of Consumer Research, people are drawn to spontaneity because they believe it reveals the artist’s true personality. The results revealed that the public considers artists to be more sincere, genuine and authentic when they act spontaneously than when they plan to, and authenticity is something consumers hold in high regard.

“Even when people see the exact same performance, if we tell them it was spontaneous, they see the person as more genuine, sincere,” explains Jacqueline Rifkin, Professor of Marketing at Cornell University in the United States and author of the study.

To come to that conclusion, the researchers examined dozens of Buzzfeed articles on spontaneity in film and television from recent years and found that, compared to other Buzzfeed articles on entertainment that were published around the same time , articles about spontaneity got nearly double the social media engagement in comments, likes, and shares.

“My goal was to study consumers’ preference for spontaneity in entertainment experiences and understand when and why they are drawn to it,” adds Rifkin.

The researchers also ran an online sweepstakes in which people could win a real, personalized Cameo salute from a celebrity of their choice. The vast majority of participants, 84.1%, wanted their chosen celebrity to record an impromptu message, rather than a scripted personal greeting.

The study concluded that spontaneity can be a powerful tool for driving publicity and engagement and generating positive impressions.

“Spontaneity is believed to offer a glimpse of your true self, and we love that.”

— Jacqueline Rifkin, Professor of Marketing at Cornell University, USA

However, the same study found that when people act spontaneously, study participants think the outcome may be of lower quality, less poise, and more prone to error. For example, while chefs who take advantage of spontaneity in their cooking may be seen as more authentic, people may expect their food to taste worse.

“Thus, although participants tended to prefer spontaneous moments in entertainment, we found that this preference disappeared when money was involved. For example, in one experiment, when participants bet real money on a sporting event, they preferred players who stuck to the game plan,” Rifkin concludes.

Jacqueline Rifkin, Associate Professor of Marketing at Cornell University (USA), explained to Metro some advantages of spontaneity and how you can take advantage of it:

-Spontaneity can be a powerful tool to drive publicity and engagement, and generate positive impressions.

-Are you working on a new project? Leave time for unplanned actions.

Are you promoting a new program or product? Consider talking about behind-the-scenes moments, not scripted.

Do you have a first date? You may have to fight the urge to plan your conversation topics in advance.

-It may be that being yourself makes you lose a little poise and eloquence, but the compensation may be worth it.

Jacqueline Rifkin

Professor of Marketing at Cornell University, USA.

Q: What led you to carry out this study?

– I’ve always been interested in spontaneity in general – probably because I’m an outspoken planner – and more recently I’ve wondered specifically about the appeal of spontaneity in the context of entertainment. For example, people love articles that tell us about totally spontaneous moments in TV shows and movies, and they love hearing about moments from musical performances or sporting events that were improvised on the spur of the moment.

Q: Why does the public prefer spontaneity?

– We’ve found that across a wide variety of entertainment experiences (TV shows, movies, music, sports), consumers prefer performers to act spontaneously, largely because it makes them seem more authentic or genuine (something we really value). in the others). When we act without a plan, we feel authentic. Spontaneity is believed to offer insight into the true self, and we love that.

Q: How did you come to this conclusion?

– In some studies, we offered participants the option of watching two fragments of a football game, for example, with a very planned or very spontaneous play. In this type of election, the participants favored spontaneity. This happened with videos of sports, music and even celebrities. The other format of our experiments was to have participants watch a YouTube video, which we told them was spontaneous or planned, or have them consider watching a YouTube video that involved planning or spontaneity and rate their interest in watching it. This allowed us to explore other features of the entertainment context – such as the animators themselves – and see how people’s preferences and experiences changed.

Q: How expensive can spontaneity be for celebrities?

– When people act spontaneously, we believe they may be of lower quality, less poised, and more prone to mistakes. So along with higher authenticity, spontaneity is also associated with lower quality. In our studies, we found that spontaneity can be especially detrimental in contexts where the stakes are high or if a negative attribution is made about the filmmaker himself (that he is lazy, careless, etc.). Given this complexity, producers should try to convey positive or functional reasons for their spontaneity, such as a high level of competition. If a comedian can announce how many years he’s been doing stand-up comedy, for example, or if a sportsman can relay some impressive game stats from the previous season, this can help reap the benefits of spontaneity without incurring the costs.

2023-07-15 04:26:59
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