As the concert and festival industry returns to its first normal season in three years, it's not unusual for promoters to resume their normal post-event marketing that they've done for years. This includes festival after movies; those brief vignettes that are posted each day giving everyone in the outside world a view of the day's events. But do these festival after movies still matter?
With economists predicting that we will be in a worldwide recession for the entirety of 2023, concert tickets will be harder to sell. The first thing consumers cut spending on is non-essential items like live entertainment and festivals are definitely a splurge for most concertgoers.
Utilizing after movies from your previous festivals is a great incentive for potential attendees to check out what they've missed or remind them of the fun that they've had in years past.
The cost of drones, videographers, editors and camera equipment isn't cheap but the visual reminder of how much fun a music festival is can be enough to make the most frugal consumer splurge on a one-day pass.
Let's face it - attending festivals can be a pain. The traffic, heat, blisters, dehydration and overcrowding are par for the course at festivals but you will see none of that in after movies.
Instead, after movies show friends lounging in the sun, hugging, flashing peace signs, singing and dancing along to the music interspersed with live footage of the performing artists.
From this perspective, viewers see attendees living in their own musical utopia for a long weekend presenting the ultimate version of FOMO.
Thanks to social media, any issues at festivals are now presented in real-time for all the world to see.
At this year's Something in the Festival in Washington, D.C. hosted by Pharrell Williams, overcrowding was such an issue that the fire marshal shut down admittance to the festival on Saturday night right before the headlining set by Williams and Justin Timberlake.
People who had purchased the three-day pass (a single-day option was not available) and left the festival area prior to the set were left stranded at the gates, unable to get in even though reentry was guaranteed with their purchase.
Additionally, Timberlake's sad attempt of trying to do the Beat Your Feet dance made the rounds on the internet to the point where Timberlake posted an Instagram story apologizing for his inability to dance. The episode even has Rolling Stone magazine asking What the Hell Happened to Justin Timberlake?
If you looked at the after movies, however, none of this was mentioned (for good reason). But if you happened to follow any of the Something in the Water hashtags you could find out what was actually happening from the people who were there.
Then, there are full-on disasters like Fyre Festival where attendees posted to social media all the failings that took place that weekend. This was quickly picked up by national and international media. Once this happens, no amount of after movies can save your event.
Audience Republic's Email & SMS Platform is a great way for promoters to reach out to festival attendees with after movies once the weekend is over.
Reminding concertgoers of the great sets of music that they just witnessed and the fun they had is a great way of establishing repeat business for years to come.
