Why we queue: inside the psychology of the pop-up
Ever walked past a pop-up, seen a queue snaking round the block, and wondered about the peculiar logic of standing for two hours to spend ninety seconds inside?
Dwell time, once a metric to minimise, has become one of the most deliberately engineered elements of a brand activation. The queue does as much psychological work as whatever waits at the end of it – building anticipation, signalling scarcity, and turning strangers into a temporary community, all before a brand has said a word.
Features and series developer Heather Nicholls spoke to Tom Ironside, global CEO of Robotproof; Grace Romero Navarro Van der End, project manager at Seen Presents; Jack Lamacraft, global MD at The Park; and Layla Lemahieu Agha, head of client experience at Sleek Events, about why people give up their time so easily and that means for how activations are now built.
The psychology of the queue
To understand how brands are engineering these moments, it helps to start with the behaviour they’re building on – why people join a queue in the first place, and what keeps them there.
Explaining why people often join a queue, Lamacraft says people often look at what everyone else is doing to judge value. He explains: “If you see a line stretching around the block, your brain automatically says ‘I don’t know what’s at the front of that line, but it must be amazing.’ There’s often a sense of reward once you finally get your hands on the item, no matter its monetary value.”
He adds that the experience in the queue itself can shape how people feel about the product at the end of it. “Ensuring people have a good experience while queuing is just as important as the moment they are handed that free item,” he says.
Meanwhile, Agha argues that people are rarely queing for the item itself, but instead the feeling that comes with getting it – discovery, participation and the sense of belonging to something exclusive. She explains: “The queue can even become social proof. If people see others investing their time, it reinforces the perception that whatever is at the end must be worth having.”
Ironside builds on this, describing queues as the point where curiosity and anticipation collide, and says the pull often has little to do with the product. He explains: “There’s something very human about seeing a queue form and deciding it must be worth joining, even if you’ve no idea what’s at the end of it. The real pull comes from the sense that a moment is unfolding and you might miss it.”
He cites Robotproof’s MrBeast activation at San Diego Comic-Con as an example. An overturned truck, a spill of neon goo and a cast of actors playing containment officers and scientists turned the queue itself into part of the story. Instead of guests waiting for the experience whilst in the queue, they were already in it.
Van der End argues the real currency for people in terms of pop-up events is belonging. Queuing hours for a free item is less about the object and more about feeling connected to a brand people admire, often tied to a desire to be associated with its image. That matters even more, she notes, when the brand’s actual products are out of financial reach. She says: “Even if the item has little monetary value – a coffee, an ice cream, a small sample – it can create a feeling of inclusion.”