Audience Research - Festivals

Festival Research

Over the last decade, music festrivals have rose in popularity - this is a result of several factors, including the rise of social media - this is one of the key factors. Popular music festivals such as Latitude are often discussed on Facebook or Twitter - this word of mouth advertises the fetsival among its main target audience - 16-24 year olds. This age group is also the main consumer of social media - these things combine to increase the popularity of music festivals such as Latitude.

The poster for the
2012 Latitude festival

The posters advertising music festivals are a vital part of the marketing of the festival. Different posters are clearly advertising their respective music festival in a different way - this is usually down to the nature of the music festival.

The poster for Latitude is clearly trying to market the social and family aspects of the festival - the poster has an image of a rural, safe-looking area that invites you in. The art and border around the poster also makes it look elegant and traditional. Also, the poster does not only display information about the musical entertainment at the event - it shows you information about the poetry, comedy and art events at the festival.

Our Chosen Festival for our Band

The festival that would suit our chosen band (The Colours) best would be the Reading festival. This is mainly due to the mainstream nature of our band and their music. The genre of The Colours' music is also similar to the genre of the bands performing at the Reading festival.

The poster marketing the 2012 Reading festival

 

A big part of how the Reading festival promotes itself is through its poster. This poster has kept the same design since the conception of the Reading festival, with it only changing when colour was introduced to the poster - it has kept the iconic yellow design and red and black font since it introduced colour. This continuity allows people to instantly know what the poster is and what it is advertising - which allows them to focus on the acts and other information on the poster.

Lots of the bands featured are mainstream bands that many people recognise - whether they are music fans or not. Other festivals (e.g. Download) are focused on an audience that wants to see the music with like-minded fans - they are there for the music rather than the experience.



The poster for
the 2012 Download festival

The timing of the festival is also important - as the festival appeals to the mass market, staging the festival in the summer holidays gives people the opportunity to attend the festival - if it was staged in the time of the year when most people are working or at school/college/sixth form/university, then these people would be put off of attending the festival.

The Reading festival's website is vital to the marketing of the festival - social media is obviously important to the advertisement of the festial, and this is clear when you go onto the website. You immediately see symbols that link you to social applications - Facebook, Twitter, Spotify and forums. These are all ways for people to connect and discuss the festival - which further promotes the Reading festival.