On March 27th 2013, we hosted a webinar entitled Grow Your Festival Audience with New Technologies. We were joined by Steve Jenner (UK Festival Awards), Ian Forshew (Beach Break Live) and Katie McPhee (Eventbrite UK Community Manager) to discuss how new technologies and social media are changing the festival industry forever. This presentation is the one we discussed during the webinar, and a video will be available shortly

1. Katie McPhee Steve Jenner Ian Forshew
Grow Your Festival With New Technologies
Starting at 4pm GMT (12pm EDT)

2. UK festival scene

3. UK Festival Scene
400
300
In 1998 there were 20 UK music festivals.
200
There are now 400+ (Festival Awards)
100
0
1998 2013
3000000
2250000
Attendance has risen from
1500000
30,000 to 3,000,000 (Mintel)
750000
0
1990’s 2013

4. UK Festival Scene
The UK festival market is valued at £500m (PRS)
Income to festivals has increased 20% over the past 2 years (PRS)
Ticket to Glastonbury cost £98 in 1999, £205 in 2013 (Festival Awards)
300
225
150
75
0
1999 2013

5. Growing your festival using new technology
Photo - GoldenPlec.com

6. In this webinar we will discuss
Getting to know Growing your
your audience audience
Technology
Increasing profit

7. Getting to know your audience

8. Getting to know your audience - Past
• No organiser/customer contact
• Customers’ needs weren’t met
• Lineup took priority over experience
• No chance for customers to express
their views
• Growth curves were flatter
Festivals rarely sold out

9. Getting to know your audience - Eventbrite
In order to help you get to know your audience, Eventbrite offers
Survey Monkey integration, giving you real time insights into how
your customers feel

10. Getting to know your audience
(CGA Strategy, Festival Awards,UK Festival Awards Market Report 2012) Full infographic available on request

11. Getting to know your audience - The present
Some of the new tools available:

12. Getting to know your audience - The present
• Ticket prices have risen above inflation, and expectations
have grown with them
• Customers are in touch with organisers, and can express
their desires/frustration
• Festival organisers can be reactive, creating a better
experience and driving brand loyalty
• Understanding audiences better increases relevancy of
sponsorship/branding

13. Getting to know your audience - Future
Festival marketing in future will
target one person above all;
The Alpha Consumer
The Alpha Consumer:
• Chooses festival
• Buys tickets
• Influences friends
(CGA Strategy, Festival Awards)

14. Growing your audience
Photo - Reuters/Cathal McNaughton

15. Growing your audience - Past (Pre-Internet)
Print ads Flyers Word of mouth
Media Partnerships Diverse Lineups

16. Growing your audience - Pre Social Media (1999-2004)
Message Boards Community Portals
Desktop Alerts

17. Growing your audience - Present
Targeted advertising and social sharing has taken us from:
TO
Net fishing - casting a wide net, Spearfishing - using what you
hoping potential customers see know about your audience and
your advertising and are interested social tools to target people with a
in what you offer specific interest in what you offer
Images: The Painted One & Is This Cool

18. Growing your audience - Present
70% of Facebook’s 67% of UK Facebook users
60 biggest are between 18 and 44
advertisers get an
ROI on ads of 300% (Source: http://bit.ly/YPl08D)
89% of the UK festival-going
(Source: http://bit.ly/MMXM0Y) population regularly uses
Facebook
51% of the UK
population is on 70% of 16 and 17 year old
Facebook festival-goers use Twitter
(Source: http://bit.ly/pULRBU) (UK Festival Awards Market Report 2012)

19. Growing your audience - Present
Festivals are a shared experience, making social networking a natural ally.
Opportunites for organisers to use social include:
Targeted online
advertising to an Thinking
audience you know beyond the
is engaged event -
connect to the
Viral content, networks of
either made your artists
in-house or and partners
crowdsourced
Social Networks
Social apps, like Bestival’s
personalised lineup web app

20. Growing your audience - Present
Festivals are a shared experience, making social networking a natural ally.
Opportunites for organisers to use social include:
E-Team systems, Mobile - Stay
incentivising your connected to your
audience to audience no
promote your matter where
event in their area they are

21. Growing your audience - Social Sharing

22. Growing your audience - Social Sharing
How many shares to sell ONE incremental ticket?
3.5 5.3
ONE TICKET
SALE
5.4 (Eventbrite)

23. Case Studies
Photo - Independent

24. 1. RFID and the contactless festival
Photo - IdeasByNet,com

25. Case Study - Intelligent Venue Solutions
The festival of the future will be wireless.
Intelligent Venue Solutions worked with the Barclaycard Wireless Festival 2012 to
make it the first large scale outdoor European festival to integrate RFID
cashless payments, access control and socially connected experiences.
Activations included:
This high tech festival experience
sped up processes, enhanced
security, increased efficiency, gave
Barclaycard data on attendees and
made social sharing far simpler

26. 2. Firetext SMS
Photo - thisera.com

27. Case Study - Firetext
How do you remind attendees that your event is taking place, alert
them to when their favourite band is taking the main stage and
provide them with helpful tips and advice for during their time with
you?
The answer is SMS. SMS is:
•Cheap
•Immediate
•Not dependent on 3G
Firetext offer their clients to communicate with their customers
cost effectively and simply.
You can use the code EVENTBRITE to receive 20% off Firetext products for the
first 3 months

28. Increasing profits
Photo - 201beats.com

29. Decreased costs
More effective, targeted marketing allows you to save money on
conventional advertising and know what works in real time, redirecting
funds to other parts of your business

30. Increasing profits - new revenue streams
• A bigger, more loyal audience means more F&B and
merchandise sales on-site
• A connected audience will buy merchandise and generate
digital advertising revenue all year round
• Live video streaming is becoming a lucrative new income
stream from Bloodstock to Bestival
• A festival with a well-profiled audience will be much more
valuable to sponsor brands

31. Thank you!

32. For more info
Eventbrite UK
/EventbriteUK
@BriteUK
UK Festival Awards
/FestivalAwardsLTD
@Festival_Awards
Beach Break Live
/BeachBreakLive
@BeachBreakLive