Marketing communication strategy for promoting a cultural product

-All Music Festival-

All Music Festival is a Performance and Celebration event with electronic music
artists and related visual arts performers as guests. This year’s venues were Control
Club, Apollo 111 and Rezidenta BRD Scena 9, with Control Club being the main one.
The main venue’s setup consists of a large room, fitting around 200 people, a
“backstage” space for artists and organizers, bracelets for attendees to prove the
payment of their entrance, a professional sound system and lighting system, two bars,
bathrooms and a smoking space. The non-material components are the brand,
promotion of the event, sponsors, the support offered by institutions (e.g. the Creative
Europe programme of the European Union) the variety of performing artists, the
customs within the participants (e.g. no dress code) and associated art exhibitions.
The product communication is done online through Facebook by creating the event
and a few ads. There is also merchandise available during the event, in the form of
booklets through which the guests find out information about the schedule, locations,
brief descriptions of the artists and a brief description about the festival. The event’s
image is a festival that blends in experimental art activities from different fields in a
harmonious way and a place for you to be yourself at the same time.
The main marketing objectives are affective and behavioural. The affective goal
refers to raising awareness about acceptance towards any person, regardless of his
or her background, beliefs or style, and enriching the attendee’s knowledge concerning
new music genres, visual arts and the overall festival Western European aesthetic.
The behavioural goal focuses on the acquisition of tickets in order to support the artists
and make the festival’s happening possible in the following years.
The target audience involves people from Bucharest and tourists that are fond
of the nightlife, generally aged between 18 and 35 years old and have an interest in
creative fields. Although the audience is temperate in purchases, it is made out of
people that attend a good number of festivals during a year.
The only form of traditional media used in the marketing communication strategy
of the event is outdoor advertising in the form of posters. The main focus is the Internet
(interactive media). All the details about the festival and the possibility of buying tickets
are available online only. Also, with a month before the festival starts, various websites
create articles and feature exclusive mixes (e.g. shapeplatform.eu, eventbook.ro,
news.ro).
Its unique selling proposition is that this festival is the only one of its kind in our
country. All Music Festival offers a unique experience with 2 and a half days full of
experimental music, intriguing visuals and its peerless aesthetic.
Not focusing on genres is a principle that reflects in the overall activity of All
Music Festival and in the actual programming of its events. Any given member of its
audience is likely to hear music she or he did not “intend to”; or from another point of
view: explore something new. It is a deliberate strategy to bring artists not just from
different genres, but also with different approaches and moods. At All Music Festival
events, the audience can hear an upbeat and ecstatic performance next to a more
calm and thought provoking show. The organizers of All Music Festival are confident
that such exploration, inter-cultural communication (let it be between national cultures
and/or subcultures) is a fertile ground for creative ideas, and a source of a new kind of
joy.