Coachella makes mobile headline act of 2015 festival marketing
Music and art festival Coachella leveraged numerous mobile possibilities for the opening weekend of this year?s event, including using social media to report live on location, streaming live shows on YouTube and creating an all-around integrated experience.
The festival has grown into one of the largest music festivals in the United States, due in part to its ability to connect to its fan base and consumers through platforms such as social media and mobile. Pages on Tumblr, Instagram, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, Pinterest and Reddit all support promotion of the festival reaching attendees as well as those who were not on location.
"Live streaming Coachella is a must-have, but only one part of the digital experience," said Amir Zonozi, chief strategy officer of Zoomph. "People have different ways of consuming social media; the key is to provide native stories to those audiences through each channel.
"Some of these audiences will overlap but they are being consumed for different reasons," he said. "For example, people might watch the YouTube Live stream to experience it and watch sets, then also watch the SnapChat stories and Vines for entertainment, stay connected with updates from the event on Twitter, and engage with Instagrams as well.
"Each channel has a different way of telling the same story, and they need to do them all if they want to reach their target audience, digital natives."
On the YouTube page of Coachella, live-streams of various performances and festival events were offered free of charge, sponsored by T-Mobile, with the official Instagram page featuring various artists and acts taking over to post their own photos on location. Coachella guests were also able to take full advantage of much of what the festival had to offer through its app.
Freedom of mobile
Coachella started in 1999 as a two-day event with 25,000 people before growing to two weekends, with over 259,000 people attending last year?s festival. This past weekend marked the first of the two-weekend event this year.
This year, Coachella updated its app with multiple new features such as a friend-finder option to search for the location of acquaintances at the festival, schedule sharing, shuttle tracking and wristband activation. These were an addition to features already available on the app, such as social media integration, creating schedules, push notifications and other relevant information for attendees.
Performances from artists such as Jack White, Fitz & The Tantrums, Bad Religion, Azealia Banks, Alabama Shakes and Vance Joy were streamed live on YouTube, but are still available for viewing now. The hashtag #musicfreedom was shown in the videos, encouraging viewers to engage in social media conversation and promote the Webcast.
Vance Joy's performance was broadcasted live through YouTube
The high quality of the videos created an engaging experience for the fans who were not in attendance. This is important because if the quality of live stream videos were poor, it would deter consumers from engaging, and the effort would have been wasted.
The high quality of the videos created an engaging experience for the fans who were not in attendance. This is important because if the quality of live stream videos were poor, it would deter consumers from engaging, and the effort would have been wasted.
To create greater hype around this year?s festival, videos previewing performances to come were shared on YouTube up to two months beforehand.
Photos showcasing the location, numerous performances and behind-the-scenes footage have all been posted on Coachella?s official social media accounts, as well as shared posts from concertgoers and fans. Musicians and artists were invited to takeover the Instagram page for an hour, with Alabama Shakes posting a photo of the food that members of the band were eating.
Dancing with brands
Brands are also using the trending discussion of Coachella on social media to promote themselves, posting anything in relation to the festival. For instance, many apparel brand and retailers were posting pictures of outfits from celebrities and attendees with links to shop the looks.
Beauty retailer Sephora sponsored Coachella this year and leveraged social media as a driving force to engage music and beauty fans at the event as well as those unable to attend (see more).
Music festivals can excel through promotion via mobile, because these specific consumers tend to be a group that is always on the move. Many festivals are following a similar strategy with mobile apps used while in attendance.
Brands are also using the trending discussion of Coachella on social media to promote themselves, posting anything in relation to the festival. For instance, many apparel brand and retailers were posting pictures of outfits from celebrities and attendees with links to shop the looks.
Beauty retailer Sephora sponsored Coachella this year and leveraged social media as a driving force to engage music and beauty fans at the event as well as those unable to attend (see more).
Music festivals can excel through promotion via mobile, because these specific consumers tend to be a group that is always on the move. Many festivals are following a similar strategy with mobile apps used while in attendance.
Recently, Lockn? Music Festival?s mobile application saw strong user engagement following the integration of a brand-informed, concert-based soundtrack from Feed.fm (see more).
"This will absolutely be a successful promotion for Coachella," said Mr. Zonozi "They are tackling this via multiple channels, each targeted natively to the platform it is on.
"The one suggestion I would give them is to leverage user-generated content," he said. "There is no better way to make a direct connection and build a relationship than by making their audience a part of the digital experience."
Final Take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily, New York