Please note this is a re-post from an article I wrote on 08/12/2011 on http://www.brandseye.com but the website has since changed format and my posts are no longer accessible there.
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What value does getting involved with festivals offer you – and how should you get involved? Some observations about the online conversations surrounding weekend festivals and single night concerts using Rocking the Daisies and DeadMau5…
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Rocking the Daisies happens once a year in Darling, South Africa. It’s a weekend of live music, comedy and outdoor living showcasing everything from the most loved local bands to the most niche of South African dance acts.
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The target market:
– Guys and Girls aged 20-33
– Mostly English consumers from Cape Town and surrounds
– Some tourists, mostly American or German
– LSM groups 8-10
– Students and young professionals
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DeadMau5 is a world famous Electronic-House DJ renowned for his unique sound and stimulating audio-visual displays and who recently toured in Cape Town.
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Even though both events represent vastly different genres, their target audiences are actually quite similar; suggesting that this market could be reached off the back of co-branding or associating with quite a varied mix of artists and entertainers.
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Exposure by the numbers:
During the lifespan of the 2011 brand (between August and October), the Daisies generated:
– 1 782 920 Opportunities-to-See (OTS)
– An Advert Value Equivalent (AVE) of R 1 609 652
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Aside from backing the festival financially – the Daisies’ sponsors do a lot to support and create an awesome atmosphere on the ground. 23.9% of its AVE came from direct conversation about this year’s sponsors, most of which were either in the alcoholic beverage or entertainment categories.
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Who are the top influencers?
Identify those consumers with large audiences and who are already speaking about your brand (reduces paid endorsement) and inspire them to get their networks involved.
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Moreover, 13.9% of Daisies’ consumer conversation came from influential consumers, mostly on Twitter. This segment alone generated 57.2% of the total OTS suggesting how important a specific network of influencers was in keeping the Daisies’ community together.
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When and where should the brand’s community be engaged?
Leverage the promotional build-up toward your event. Incentivise user interaction with and fun campaigns and giveaways in return for the most valuable content and brand evangelism to encourage positive conversation.
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The majority of Daisies’ festival goers can be reached via Twitter (which contributed 72% of all conversation) and then on Facebook (4% of all conversation).
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However, the Daisies festival is remote and based entirely outdoors. Few people actively tweeted or blogged about the event while they were there, so interacting with users while they’re partying up a storm won’t give you any return on engagement.
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However, high levels of intensive or concentrated brand engagement are more likely to be met at one-night, urban events like the recent DeadMau5 concerts. Concerts like these are more likely to have authors engaging throughout the event purely because there is higher social media usage in urban areas and because users always have their phones on them.
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The event sponsorship recipe is four-fold:
1. Provide a unique and interesting brand experience on the ground that proves that your brand not only talks the talk but that it lives up to what its advertising promises. If people have fun, they’re more likely to talk about it when they come back.
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2. Leave a message: Remember to seed some call-to-action to maximise on online conversation and retain its community following even after Monday morning. Ideally encourage engagement on specific platforms – either your Facebook Wall or using a Twitter hashtag for easy identification after your campaign.
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3. Take a step back: The community’s response to this is the perfect feedback loop. Find out which strategies worked for them and which ones didn’t. Find out who to call on for your next event – both your top influencers and your most avid fans.
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4. Develop a slick “head held high” exit strategy if your brand isn’t going to keep its event page live until the next one and remember to thank your community for their involvement.
On track and online 