One of the most infamous digital marketing successes,
in my mind, was the promotion of the Frye Festival. The Fyre Festival was
supposed to be an exclusive and emerging luxury music festival that offered
attendees a truly unique and premium experience. The Festival’s digital media strategy
was so effective that thousands of people bought tickets for thousands of
dollars and the festival hadn't even been built.
The
campaign started with a titillating mini-launch video -
with some of the most popular celebrity models gallivanting on Island formerly
owned by Pablo Escobar. The promotional video featured white sandy beaches,
crystal blue waters with yachts and jet skis in a tropical paradise. Models like
Kendal Jenner, Bella Hadid and Chanel Iman were then paid for posts (up to $275,000
per) to promote the event. The media around the festival promised “the cultural
experience of the decade" - the new Coachella, the new burning man but it
was the greatest party that never happened. The
media around the event garnered tickets day ticket prices from US $500 to US $1,500, and VIP packages including airfare and luxury tent
accommodation for US $12,000. Customers were promised accommodation in modern,
eco-friendly, dome tents, and food prepared by celebrity chefs, and mingling with
celebrities and VIPs. What was supposed to be an Instagram photo come to
life was an epic illusion of smoke and mirrors that ended in a horror show of excited
millennials stranded on island, sleeping on soggy mattresses and old ham sandwiches.
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