Key Success Factors for Festivals [WIP Series]

Having a high prior success rate (including completed prior contracts):

Festival promoters and producers who achieve superior reputations will be better able to win new and repeat business and secure the most coveted performing acts and retain attendees YOY. Now, what factors you use to measure your success rate can vary. Festivals can be very profitable when done right, but they can also be a labour of love. Attendee feedback, ROI, brand awareness, and completion of prior artists and operations contracts all factor into an events success rate, but what has attracted VCs is growth over profitability. This rings especially true with boutique festivals that celebrate a unique interest or hobby since once the coveted 20% market share is achieved it is a winner take all scenario.

Ability to optimize mutually beneficial strategic partnerships:

Collaboration is the new competitive advantage. Forming strategic bilateral relationships with key players will enable organizers to achieve economies of scale and scope. Non-competing strategic allies either down- or upstream of a festival’s distribution or revenue streams that share reciprocal information can leverage both parties experience and knowledge. The vertical partnerships that close the festival attendee lifecycle from discovery to retention will be the most advantageous. Festivals that are expanding their range of alliances within more categories, like ticketing solutions, marketing solutions, PR, brand ambassadors, etc., can focus on curating their core competencies.

Coalitions that increase the purchasing power of festivals will level the playing field for independent festival owners against the likes of AEG and Live Nation when negotiating media buys, production, and the most expensive part; the talent.

Optimum capacity and resource utilization:

Festival who are also venue operators must make the most of facilities by selling out events and renting venues to third-party companies when not in use. Better capacity use creates lower per-unit costs and enables companies to offer consumers affordable tickets to their festivals. Companies must also take full advantage of venue capacity to be successful. Before purchasing a venue, new entrants should ensure that there is adequate long-term demand for their facility from their own events and from third-party establishments that may wish to lease the facility. Many major artists will not be willing to perform at venues that are not sold to capacity, so it is important that promoters make an honest assessment that the size of their venue matches the profiles of the performers they wish to attract.

Don’t own a venue? Organizes with engaged socials and strong brand loyalty can sell their marketing services to third parties, venues, corporations, and the artists themselves when not in use. Brands could even consider licenses globally but this can be a slippery slope.  

Ability to raise revenue from additional sources:

Organizers must be able to diversify their revenue sources away from simply relying on admission fees. Additional revenue streams include concessions, merchandise, premium ticketing tiers, artist services and rental income from venue leasing. There is a trend discontinuing VIP which is suppose to show that everyone is equal but there will always be those who will spend more for social validity and increased creature comforts. A healthy goal for corporate sponsorships should be 20% of your entire budget, either straight cash, a value exchange of marketing, product donations, or an activation that adds to the attendee’s experience. Growth in ancillary sales, such as those of merchandise, food and beverages, are expected to continue rising as per capita disposable income continues to grow through 2022. Tapping into and maximizing revenue shares of ancillary sales reduces a festivals breakeven and allows for more control over what is sold at your event. Challi Cup, Enchanted Forest and much more have entered into the premium marijuana dispensary at music festivals.

Attendee taste preferences:

The digital economy has made the concert experience far more personalized. Using data analytics and brand partnerships, the industry’s largest players (and a few smaller savvy ones) can harness information that is made available through users’ social media profiles, data-enrichment services, and streaming music activity. Data collection enables ticket sellers to market upcoming festivals to consumers based on their individual preferences in artists, sports, life-choices, purchasing behaviours, and type of festival. Other information, such as a consumer’s age (and birthday), geographic location, interests, and hobbies can also help companies curate recommendations that match very specific characteristics to generate even greater revenue. Knowing who your audience is, segmenting them based on pain points (like money, social validity) and taste preferences (like musical genres, personal-choice food restrictions), automating an omnichannel marketing campaign with emotional triggers specific to them, and then producing an on-site experience that heightens that audiences festival experience is how to create a more immersive, boutique mini-festival within their larger festival.

Ability to quickly adopt new technology:

Larger industry players must take advantage of technology to appeal to performers, increase ticket sales, heighten the consumer experience and provide value-added offerings. Establishments and mature festivals should A/B test a variety of new technology and media in various areas from cryptocurrencies, geotargeting, Facebook Events, 360 streaming, etc. in order to stay competitive  

• Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) (Or even mixed reality) will be integrated into the purchasing process. For example, the US-based company Rukkus has developed a new functionality within its app, which enables users to book and purchase seats using VR (Seat360). This feature offers gyroscope based panoramic 360-degree seat views and hence enables customers to get the exact idea of their seat location, before making a final purchase. AR/AR will also provide a new range of on-site and offsite interactive possibilities that will create a richer experience There are a lot of players making a name for themselves, from utilizing  existing elements like what PERISCOPISTA does with mist or developing an immersive ‘trip’ like Microdose VR does, but for myself the best example was Panorama’s journey as curated by Android Jones and a few of their headliners. What is most exciting is the possibility of adding a new revenue stream for out-of-towners who cannot make it to the festival or make it possible for potential attendees to experience a festival before purchasing tickets, since imagines or even 360 walk-throughs do not a music festival justice. TheWaveVR enables music lovers to view, host, and socialize inviritual shows worldwide, anytime, anywhere.
• Create FOMO or capitalize on social proof marketing. The reason the Coachella selfie is the new Corvette has propelled this social validity-driven generation to seek out experience-based products so that they can show their social circle what they are doing. Social proof can be as easy as celebrating milestones together or never missing a birthday email, but can be as intimate as mentioning in real-time that their Facebook friend just saved X amount tickets via a push notification. One of my favs is Use Fomo. Ten years ago it was all about what you physically own, today it is about where you have been.
• Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding. The sense of ownership of a festival strengths once a festival listens to an attendee's feedback.   
• Geotargeting. JusCollege, a college-oriented lifestyle travel agency, would most certainly benefit from geotargeting advertisements to college football or basketball games to later retarget with their discounted festival tickets.
• Cryptocurrencies. Envision pushed attendees to purchase with Bitcoins which I am sure has paid off tremendously with it hitting an all-time record high recently.
• RFIDs. Firefly 2017 was an entirely cashless festival which means that every step you took, every “nameless” taco you ate, and every show you watched was tracked. Live Nation has even vowed to get rid of the barcode recently!  
• Apps. Radiate has become the go-to online community for EDM-ish festivals. Social Ladder has made a one-click ambassador program that enables P2P ticket sales and social media support.

Access to niche markets, ability to identify and target niche audiences: What makes your festival special?

As promotional efforts for a particular festival increase, consumers' exposure to the festival and their likelihood of purchasing tickets will increase, right? Wrong.

Due to the ease of entry, there is a crowding of similar festivals advertising the same experience the same exact way to the same audience. This has to lead to a saturation and borderline mature North American festival market that is now characterized by increasing competition in a noisy advertising ecosystem.

BUT this has also given rise to boutique festivals or specialist festivals that are small-scale and intimate but more importantly are niche-type events which prioritize quality over quantity and as such can be said to be imbued with imagery associated with intensified sensations, escape, and commonality.

This is exactly what today’s festival attendee demands.

There already is a swell in niche festivals that aim to be distinguishable by carving out a niche or promoting some form of offering which is meaningful and attractive to a prospective attendee (political ethos, regionally specific, health and wellness, eSports, etc). Trying to appeal to and entertain a massive festival crowd can result in a boring, corporate, out-of-touch, generic affair. Instead, offer personalized experiences and intimate settings. This will allow like-minded individuals to have an instantaneous connection solely based on their shared interests or hobbies which drew them to your festival in the first place.