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Via Mumbrella
Marketing a music festival has never been more of a challenge for promoters like Untitled Group.
A cost-of-living crisis, shifts in consumer appetite, and lack of government support for the arts are just some of the barriers Untitled Group and others are having to face that are quickly diminishing the live music industry.
As fellow promoter Ministry of Sound’s CEO Tim McGee previously put it to Mumbrella, the local scene is in a “pretty dire place” at the moment.
This year alone, a large majority of Australia’s leading festivals were cancelled because of these factors – Live Nation’s Splendour in the Grass, Groovin’ The Moo, Spilt Milk, Harvest Rock, and NYE in the Park to name a few.
But Untitled Group seems to be an outlier – simply by the fact that it actually had events go ahead in 2024. And over the upcoming New Year’s weekend, its popular Beyond The Valley and Wildlands festivals are set to return.
Casey Serrao, the promoter’s director of marketing, says there’s something unique about Untitled Group’s events.
“They’re culturally significant, and they have a connection to community… they stand out from the crowd,” she tells Mumbrella.
“Festivals like Beyond The Valley and Pitch, they are non-negotiables. They are events everyone wants to be at, and if you’re not, you’ve got massive FOMO [fear of missing out].”
Serrao says the cost-of-living crisis has been the biggest learning curve for the group – not only in terms of making event prices as reasonable as possible for punters, but also for the group itself.
“The cost of the infrastructure and putting on festivals has been a really big challenge,” she explains. “So inflation has meant that everything for us has become more expensive, so we need to balance that with, for example, ticket prices – which are always front of mind for us.”
And while many complain about the hefty price tag that comes with attending a festivals – Serrao breaks it down for us.
She explains that for a festival like Beyond The Valley which runs for four days, the costs broken down are about $160 a day – a perfectly reasonable amount for a live music experience.
“And that includes accommodation, transport, as well as the access to entertainment. But also, the activities outside of that on site.”
A huge part of its success, according to Serrao, comes down to its strategic marketing that has the aforementioned connection – to fellow fans, artists, and wider community – at the core.
More so, Untitled Group’s festivals transcend music – and that’s championed in its marketing campaigns.
The promoter’s launch campaign for Beyond The Valley in July leant into the joy and vibrancy that festivals can bring to people’s lives, especially if they ‘Experience Life in Technicolour’.
Drawing inspiration from the use of technicolour in cult classic films the Wizard of Oz and Pleasantville, the festival is symbolised as a transformative escape.
“Our key messaging highlights that Beyond The Valley, for example, is an unmissable, magical experience that goes beyond music, offering creativity, community, and connection,” she explains.
“Obviously there’s discourse around the challenges of Australian festivals at the moment, and what our festivals have been facing, so we wanted to launch it from an optimistic lens.”
In 2024, the promoter had to think differently and strategically about how it advertises its festivals to keep punters happy.
“We have had to be quite conscious of the ticket price obviously, so our marketing has been focused on communicating the value proposition – showcasing what’s included in said price and show that there is so much more than just the artists on the line up,” Serrao continues.
So, what exactly is included and how are brands getting involved?
This year’s Beyond The Valley features a number of returning and new brand partners – Smirnoff, Red Bull, and Jack Daniel’s, to name a few.
The ‘Schmall Club’ – an exclusive, secret club on site – is returning in 2024, but there’s a twist. For the first time, the club has landed a brand sponsor in Smirnoff.
“The ‘Smirnoff Schmall Club’ is a good example of how a brand has authentically given new life to Beyond The Valley and to the crowd with an immersive experience,” Serrao says.
This year will also feature new activations from Red Bull and Jack Daniel’s – ‘Red Bull Unforeseen’ and ‘The Jack Daniel’s House Party’.
“‘Red Bull Unforeseen’ is all about expecting the unexpected,” she continues. “While ‘The Jack Daniel’s House Party’ is a nod to house party culture, it focuses on the social connections often gained in more intimate settings, and we’ll be using it to give a platform to emerging artists.”
While these partnerships are highly welcomed, Serrao says there’s so much more brands, and by extension brand marketers and their agency partners, can be doing to support live music.
Brands should be thinking local, she stresses, because there’s so much Australian talent – not just artists – whose creative personalities should be championed.
It’s about creating authentic moments that add real value for fans, while also supporting the industry,” she explains.
“Brands have a real opportunity to tap into that by working on immersive festival activations, exclusive content, artist-led campaigns… There’s really no limit to what we can do. There’s something so unique and special about the homegrown bond, and I’m constantly reminded about how deeply local artists can connect with fans in ways international acts often can’t.”
This is something adland has begun to understand – with things like the ARIA adland award and campaigns to boost exposure of local music – but this is a reminder that so much more can, and should be, done.
“I think the more we can do, the better,” Serrao concludes.