7 Key Lessons the Fyre Festival Failure Taught Us.

Imagine forking out $12,000 for a festival that promised luxury flights and transfers, modern eco-friendly accommodation, incredible music acts, gorgeous food from celebrity chefs and the experience of a lifetime only to be greeted by a building site upon arrival. You’d be pretty peeved, right? 

A duo of fascinating films documenting the Fyre Festival fiasco recently hit our screens. Netflix’s “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened” and Hulu’s “Fyre Fraud” are both well worth a watch as you try to escape the fierce winter winds. They are twisting tales that recall the collapse of the greatest festival that never happened. 

Fyre Festival was the brainchild of entrepreneur turned evil-genius Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. It was advertised as the most opulent VIP event of the year. A party that would attract A-listers from every corner of the globe. However, what unfolded was pure pandemonium

If you have an interest in business, marketing or events, I’d give these films a watch – although they make for difficult watching at times, they are didactic accounts exposing social injustice and awful business management.

What did Fyre Festival teach us?

1)  A good pitch deck is a must. 

McFarland and his team managed to entice millions of dollars from investors to get the festival off the ground. The carefully crafted narrative, the stunning visuals, the talent network and the lofty returns had investors chomping at the bit to be part of the movement. Had the Fyre team not forged financial documents and failed to deliver on pretty much everything they promised this would have been a great project to emulate. Check out their deck here:

2)  Company culture is key. 

What started out as an exciting journey to bring an incredible idea to life rapidly devolved into turmoil. The documentaries encapsulate how bright-eyed passionate employees degenerated into chaos and despair throughout the so-called planning process. As time went on, fallacies and falsehoods became the lingua Franca adopted by the Fyre Fest team. Netflix even received insider information from the planning team in the weeks and days running up to the festival revealing the catastrophe that was unravelling. 

3)  Influencer marketing campaigns can provide outstanding ROI. 

Fyre Media poured thousands of dollars into pre-event marketing, roping in celebs and influencers including Kylie Jenner and Bella Hadid to drive ticket sales – and boy did it work. The golden sandy beaches of the Exuma’s, the superyachts, the beautiful models, the champagne showers - the marketing was faultless. Influencer marketing is a seriously underutilised tool by many. One thing’s for sure though, it’s an industry that’s going to befall heavy regulation soon enough. 

4)  Budget management is essential. 

Fyre Festival was a Fugazzi. Almost everything the marketing campaigns promised turned out to be complete codswallop. The simple fact is, they ran out of money. The team overspent ridiculously during the promotional phase of the project and they paid the price. You need to monitor cash flow and outgoings carefully for projects of this scale or they can turn on a sixpence before you know it. 

5)  “Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.” ― Robert A. Heinlein

You wouldn’t ask a DJ to make a soufflé or a chef to manage your registration website. So, why did Billy McFarland chop and change the Fyre Festival event planning team so frequently and ignore expert advice? It was a recipe for disaster. Event planning is an extremely difficult profession. It’s high-pressure, long hours and quite rightly regarded as the 5th most difficult job in the world. Listen to the experts and let them do their jobs. Fyre Festival illustrated Billy McFarland’s disregard for guidance. A mistake that would eventually cost him millions of dollars.  

6)  Positioning is everything. 

Tickets for the festival ranged from $1,500-$12,000 – steep for most people. If you target celebs, influencers and high-net-worth individuals, you need to deliver quality. That’s where Fyre Festival fell short. One scene captured an employee talking of how the team still had the belief they could pull the festival off despite the anarchic state of the site just weeks out – they even made a comparison to Woodstock – which may have been okay if Fyre hadn’t been positioned as a lavish VIP experience…and attendees hadn’t parted with thousands of dollars. 

7)  There’s nothing worse than over-promising and under-delivering. 

We all detest a salesman who fails to deliver on his word, and unfortunately guests were left feeling hoodwinked. 

Richard Branson once said, “If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later”. Was this a classic case of fake it till you make it or is Billy McFarland the duplicitous renegade he has been painted as in the press? 

Hulu’s “Fyre Fraud” includes a captivating interview with the orchestrator behind the festival. Steely-eyed and uncompromising – McFarland’s demeanour is comparable to Donald Trump or Jordan Belfort. It’s inexplicably obvious McFarland is an amazing salesperson, but the documentaries leave you wondering if he’s also a scam artist extraordinaire. 

One thing’s without questions - there’s nothing quite like a festival. The music, the dancing, the memories. It’s a thing of beauty. Glastonbury, Burning Man, Coachella – the best festivals become ingrained in history and culture. They are moments that you never forget. And Fyre Festival is an experience that guests will never forget - but for all the wrong reasons. 

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