Padd Solutions

Here in Queensland we begin to head into what Gen Y refer to as the "Summer Festival Season". With wide open parklands, great weather and a host of local and international music acts event organisers charge a premium for tickets, alcoholic beverages and merchandise.

From my work experience with the Katarzyna Group and their involvement with the Stereosonic music festival a lot of hard behind the scenes promotion goes into getting our youth to spend upwards of $130 on a basic ticket. And aparently to increased sales growth you wouldn't tell we are just recovering form a global financial crisis!

With promotions and distribution week in and week out in the lead up to each festival, emphasis is being placed more and more upon the lifestyle choice of attending festivals and each festivals according "cool" factor. With peer groups placing high value on attendance to such events and the event calender overladen with festivals, Generation Y are spending more and more disposable money over the summer months to entertain themselves. This social marketing aspect of festivals is driven through new media channels such as online forums, blogs as well as Twitter to engage audiences.

With blogs and forums devoted to each festival, minor details are leaked to inspire conversation, theorising and in some cases outrage. Under aliases festival organisers can successfully drive sales for events by emphasising the "coolness" of international artists, celebrity attendees and cultural aspects fo music festivals.

And positive experience seems to lead to repeat purchase with young people attending the same festivals to re-experience the vibe, culture and music for consecutive years. With a favourite festival for each atendee this unique and positive brand image is vital for again driving sales and assisting events like Big Day Out and Splendour in the Grass to sell out in record time.

Even with increasing pressure on organiser to live up to expectations and attract leading musicians to headline, the festival culture doesn't seem to be dying of anytime soon. And yes while there are moral outrage regarding youth binge drinking, poor post-event shutdown and drug fuelled violent behaviour, the potential profits for organising companies prove to be too luring.