I don’t know if you have watched the latest installment of the new Muppet Show. I have always been a huge fan, but this latest attempt to carry the muppets into the 21st Century is a big failure to me. They have lost me as an audience member. This is why:
The muppets had their own little world on their own little show. They brought humans into their crazy world, and this made the interaction magical and funny. The humans had to adjust, not the other way around.
Round two of the muppets were the movies. Yet, they still had the mentality of the muppets against the human world. They still had their muppets’ standards that they refused to back down. The Rainbow Connection was still intact.
This latest installment strays from their brand, their niche of being muppets in their own muppet world with their own muppet standards. Instead, they are trying to act as crazy as us humans, interact with humans on a human level, and this was not what they were made for.
The muppets were made for us to see another way to deal with life. The muppets way! A sweet, practical way to teach children and their adult counterparts that life can still be sunny and funny even in the rain of regular life. The muppets did have their share of challenges putting on their shows, but they always managed to solve it in muppet ways, not human ways.
You see, the muppets sometimes have their human moments, but they always in the end realize they are muppets and not humans. The executives at ABC/Disney totally got this one wrong. When you force the muppets to be too human, they lose their magical muppetness, and this is the reason why I no longer watch the show.
Think about how this scenario could apply to your art and arts organization. Are you truly being who you are and branding for the world to know the real you? It is the only way to not lose your muppetness too and to sincerely fine and attract the best audience members for you!
Cheers to happy and loyal audience members,
Shoshana
Shoshana Fanizza
Chief Audience Builder, ADS
