5 Marketing Tactics the Fyre Festival

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5 Marketing Tactics the Fyre Festival

By now I am sure most of the world has seen the Fyre Festival documentaries on Netflix or Hulu.

If you haven’t, BEWARE!! (Major spoilers coming in this article)

The Fyre festival was one of the most exclusive music festival to be presented to us in the last couple of years. As we all know, the outcome turned out to be a nuclear bomb. However, Billy and his team deserves a round of applause for the marketing schemes they implemented to drive brand awareness and ticket sales. These marketing tactics have long been used and widely known however, based on the engagement with the festival’s followers, I believe they have taught us all a lesson we need to keep in mind when developing our next marketing campaigns.

Below are 5 lessons and tactics that I’ve gathered from rise and fall of Fyre Festival, and how they can be applied to your next marketing campaign.

1. Good Storytelling always wins

5 Marketing Tactics the Fyre Festival

Everyone loves a good story, right? Good storytelling in developing brand awareness is pivotal in todays automated techy world. Since the digital age, we have been more connected than ever before. The art of storytelling in marketing is so important that brands pay millions in getting the right message across to its audience. The Fyre Festival told this amazing story of being on an island with the best models and the best artist. Everyone who saw that first (and only) video knew exactly where they wanted to be that April. The hype of this fest was solely generated based off the amazing story that was being told. The story unlocked the emotions of its viewers and played on the them like a guitar. Good Marketers will create content that will evoke action to the audience and unlock those emotions that will allow consumers to want your product.

2. Influencer Marketing isn’t going anywhere

5 Marketing Tactics the Fyre Festival

Many people believe that marketing ads and generating brand awareness through social media is the core of digital marketing and others … well… like the old school approach to marketing. The Frye festival is proof that a digital approach to a marketing campaign is proven to generate enough brand awareness for any product or service. Brands can save millions promoting products and services using influencers rather than ads. The Fyre festival used 100% of its campaigns dollars on generating a video and using influencers. These influencers introduced the ideal of the festival to millions of people – who in turn made it known to thousands more. Working with influencers allows you create effective campaigns that increase your brand value. As more and more people interact with your message, the greater the chances become, that they will become customers of your brand or product later on.

3. Consistent Messaging increases value

Speaking of a brands message and value, Billy and his marketing genius taught us that brands need to have consistent messaging throughout the campaign; even when things looks shaky. From the language, the design and the offerings, the Frye Festival did not stray away from the message they wanted to convey. They not only wanted this to be a festival but a vacation, with models and music. Many people who were watching the documentaries or seen what was happening via social media at the time probably wondered why did people pay for tickets when it just seemed like a scam? Having a consistent message coming from a brand definitely makes the brand feel more reliable and allows consumers to trust the brand even more. Can we agree that Billy definitely had a consistent message throughout all his communications and social posting up until he couldn’t lie anymore.

4. Knowing your target market will save you

Knowing your audience is something that shouldn’t have to be said in marketing, as we are trying to supply our customers what they need and want. However, I see so many brands who just don’t know their target audience. Needless to say, there is a reason why some or most of the general public didn’t hear or know what the Frye Festival was until sh** started to hit the fan. Billy and his team knew exactly who they needed to target and who will buy tickets to the festival. Brands who really know who their target market is will be able to use the storytelling and influencers to generate awareness and value that we talked about earlier in this article. Well Bill knew exactly what story he wanted to tell and who he wanted to tell it to which made his marketing tactics seemly bulletproof.

5. Never make promises and always be truthful.

Today’s competitive world leaves room for brands to make promises to consumers that their products cannot do or serve.
Unfortunately, there are many brands who make unusual promises to its consumers that leads them to buy the product but the product cannot make good on the promise. We all know the Frye fest promised this luxury vacation experience that it could not follow through with. When developing a marketing campaign, it is important for brands be transparent as possible in order for customers to gain much needed trust in the brand, especially for new brands. Transparency and telling the truth even when Its bad will only help retain customers in the future. We can learn from Billy that he failed in this aspect. Even when festival goers were at the fest site , in front of his face he still could not manage to mustard up the truth. As a result, anything connected to “Fyre” was tarnished and was not be able to gain back the momentum it once had.

All business can take note to the Frye Festival, weather good or bad. This brand has taught us very valuable lessons in which everyone can learn.

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