Selling the Music Festival Experience.

Music festivals are gaining traction in popularity, particularly post coronavirus and this may be due to ticket buyers seeking an ‘experience’ rather than a commodity. In order to capitalise on this growth organisers may need to re-think how they brand and promote their festivals in the future.  

There should perhaps be a fundamental shift away from promoting music events and towards promoting ‘music experiences’. This will fit well in an economy where expenditure on music related products is declining and consumers prefer to focus on experiences sometimes referred to as the *experience economy. Research in 2014 by San Francisco State University found that the desire for experience over material goods is a cross population phenomenon. What steps can festival organisers take to align their business with this shift in purchasing behaviour.

Branding and Staff Education. 
Any business's brand is built on the foundation of their staff and all touch points made with external contacts. Getting staff trained to understand the business and embrace the brand concepts and articulately communicate these is a key step towards a unified branding approach. All staff deal with suppliers and hundreds of external contacts and clearly explaining the festival’s brand identity is a fundamental foundation required prior to producing any marketing campaigns.

Marketing.
A comprehensive marketing plan of mixed activities and campaigns should fit perfectly with the brand education already implemented internally within the organisation. This will avoid any cynicism from staff about marketing campaigns and messaging that is developed. The language used in any communication with the external world should reflect the music festival experience rather than just a ticket. Carefully crafted copywriting can help to refine these messages that reflect the organisation's brand image.

Festival Content.
Part of the packaging of a music festival that makes it an experience rather than just a concert is the content provided. Adding in other attractions like arts and crafts and wellness can add to the festival-goer experience. The creation of zones geared to different experiences can help to enhance this, Boomtown festival in the UK is an excellent example of a music festival that focuses on the experience. Organisers describe the event as “a creation of a parallel world where the only limit is imagination with eight themed districts and a multi-dimensional playable journey that includes treasure-hunting, puzzle-solving, live-action role-plays and immersive theatres.” They also have a great music line-up every year and the festival continues to grow every year.

Festival organisers who have been running events for decades will need to embrace the experience economy if they are going to capitalise on the sector's growth. A festival that just pumps out music acts may no longer be sufficient in an increasingly competitive environment.

For festival organisers planning their events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

*The term was first used in a 1998 article by B.Joseph Pine II and James H.Gilmore describing the next economy.

Photo by Wendy Wei via Pexels

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