Download Marketing

The festival ‘Download’ is held in Donington Park, UK from the 14^th-16^th of June every year. Download festival market themselves using various methods. The first is using social networking sites such as Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. The official Facebook fan page is posted below. A large portion of the population use social networking sites so it is an effective way to create hype. According to http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/16/study-ages-of-social-network-users/, the main age demographic is between 35-44 years old. This makes sense because this demographic are young enough to still be interested in festivals however they will have enough disposable income to afford going to a festival. Either this or they will be old enough to have children and can buy them tickets.

Another technique used is the use of flyers. These are usually used to display the line-up i.e. the bands which are playing at the festival. The norm at festivals is that bigger acts ‘headline’ and smaller less known bands play the tents and smaller stages. Below is the flyer displaying all the acts for Download 2009. Flyers such as this are handed out at gigs with simiar music to Download festival. This way the festival is hitting its target audience thus creating the oppurtunity for mre people to go ergo making more profit.

Thirdly a lot of merchandise is sold also creating hype about the festival. Such merchandise includes t-shirts, posters and wristbands.  This is to create hype but also to create income. Another reason why these t-shirts sell is because if someone goes to a festival and has the time of their life then the are going to want something like a t-shirt etc to remember it by.

 

A common feature at festival is the wristbands given to signify that you are there legitimately and have paid your ticket fee instead of somehow sneaking in. This also gives people a sense of pride and community. Several festivals use this method including Download, Latitude, Playfest, Reading, Leeds, Glade and Isle of Wight. Below is the wristband given out at Download festival 2012.