Most researchers state that millennials are a demographic cohort with birth years range from early 1980s to around 2000. (Horovitz, 2012). Millennial audiences are a massive part of any digital campaign, due to them usually being the most technically advanced, any digital marketing most connect with millennial audiences.
None more so than the music industry, music promotion company Eventbrite (2014) studies show that the details of some 20 million online conversations about 181 music festivals in the United States on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms in 2013-2014. And 75% of the people involved were aged 17 to 34 years. The same study shows that over 50% of festival goers are in the millennial age range, with a distinct connection to social media pages such as Twitter (shown in the graph below).
Millennials are very savvy in the way they operate and won’t necessarily be attracted by traditional digital marketing channels (usually see through it). They consume a much broader range of content compared to other demographics, with spread across various social network (Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitter, Vine, and Tumblr to name but a few). Any music festival must have these basic social media platforms to be successful, but in order to attract millennial customers, they must have a genuine marketing tool with meaningful interaction.
Millennials are attracted to various aspects of campaigns, according to Nielsen’s Music 360 report, 51% of consumers and 76% of festivalgoers feel more favourably towards brands that sponsor a tour or concert. Brand sponsorship for music festivals totalled $1.22 billion in 2012. With this in mind festivals try to get sponsored by the most credible and recognisable brands, in order to attract millennial customers, it also builds a relationship with consumers. Examples include the Radio 1 and NME tent at Glastonbury.
Also Pitchfork music festivals free mobile app partnered with Rdio to provide festival goers with the chance to take pictures attach songs to them, print photos and receive free trial at their sponsor tent. Samsung’s tent provided free henna tattoo at various festivals as well. Other examples of aiding the customer experience is Bonnaroo, who are sponsored by Garnier with hair washing tents, to heighten the customer experience.
Collaboration with other brands is important because Millennials appreciate being involved, and so by including them in the development process, you are building a loyal customer base, they love to have a level of ownership. And the above sponsorship examples show that some music festivals are effectively achieving this.
Today millennials wants something more than just standard social media, they want to gain there festival experience to be heightened in an accessible manner and want the festival to give them meaningful interactions. Smith states “There is potential growth and value in using digital marketing aimed at Millennials, but the marketing strategies must be perceived positively by this generation. By taking into consideration the preferences of Millennials, the effectiveness of online communications and digital marketing aimed at this market segment can be increased.” (2012). Music festivals try to take into account the preferences of millennials, by catering to there every need.
With Smith strategy in mind, a meaningful way of marketing to millennials is through creating experiences. Coachella’s app has features such as friend finder (search for people you know at the event and there exact location), social media integration, schedule maker and push notifications, all to aid the customer experience in the most accessible manner. (Jaekel, 2016).
Creativity with millennial does not just stop there, with the anticipation of experiencing their favourite acts, with friends etc., festivals have become more creative in outdoor advertising. It can complement a fans experience, brings people together and a great way of spread news whilst amplifying advertising. Examples include Coachella outdoor advertising as shown below:
Millennials also like to feel part of a community, and festivals will try and achieve this by gaining good relations with the, such as creating a mobile app as a practical source of information (Coachella example highlighted above). Examples such as thank you videos (as shown below), will also help achieve this, and great trust and a relationship between customer and festival (something that the sponsorship mentioned above also helps achieve).
Millennials are also probably the biggest to review on the internet, so user generated content is massively used. Festivals sharing customers, allowing customer to create and share their own videos and allowing for comments on social media platforms helps promote the festival. It also acts as an implicit incentive, this allows the user to feel good as a member of the festival community and also works in direct correlation with millennials feeling part of a community whilst promoting a festival. (Chua et al., 2014).
However if festival don’t market to millennials in a effective manner, they can be left behind and there reputation damaged as a result. It is not enough to just offer them basic social media platforms, but also attach a certain outcome they can gain from using it (such as using blogs as a practical information source). Because this is the generation that is most likely to review and news and content can spread, any words by the demographic can affect a festival on a big scale, meaning festival must cater to them as a result. This demographic like to follow the latest trends and anything out of date can be seen as ‘uncool’, and they also feel extremely alienated by traditional digital marketing and see right through it. Meaning festivals have to be coherent to these issues when marketing to them, and offer the demographic a incentive and engage them when marketing.
Overall music festival cater to the millennial crowd by trying to offer them the best experience possible in a meaningful way, through various collaborative sponsorship with brands, creative marketing such as outdoor marketing and by trying to replicate a community feel for this demographic as well, by gaining a relationship between festival and customer all to keep them engaged. To attract this demographic festivals must have a genuine marketing tool with meaningful interaction, and evidence of this are Coachella ‘friend finding app’ and Pitchforks partnership with Rdio to name but a few. Showing that millennial are a big effect on how festivals operate.
By Isaac Roblett
References
Chua, T; Li, J; Moens, M (2014). Mining user generated content. Chapman and Hall/CRC. P 7
Eventbrite (2014). Music Festival Study. Mashwork, Inc.
Horovitz, Bruce (4 May 2012). “After Gen X, Millennials, what should next generation be?”. USA Today
Jaekel, B. (2016) Coachella makes mobile headline act of 2015 festival marketing – mobile marketer – social networks. [Online] Available at: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/social-networks/20214.html (Accessed: 1 February 2016).
Smith, K (2012) “Longitudinal study of digital marketing strategies targeting Millennials”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 29 Iss: 2, pp.86 – 92