In July 2019, a young country music festival in Wisconsin geared up for a make-or-break weekend of live music. The stage is set, performers have arrived, and thousands of fans begin to fill the festival grounds for a series of events that would determine the outlook of the event for years to come.
In this pivotal year, this festival's promoters were equipped with valuable help from HyperValue's live music trade program. This relatively new initiative started three months earlier, when HyperValue connected with festival marketing staff to support the event and provide valuable advertising assets at no cash expense, in exchange for sponsor assets.
Live Music Trade Program in Action
Plans were set in April. HyperValue laid out a high-value promotional plan to supplement existing advertising activities. The objective was to drive ticket purchases from locals by targeting a series of advanced audience segments through HyperValue's exclusive data management platform (DMP). Once formed, these audiences were activated across hundreds of local websites with digital advertisements promoting Early-Bird offers and increasing event awareness in the targeted region.
Most importantly, the campaign cost was funded entirely by sponsor assets, resulting in no cash cost to the festival. Assets included sponsor packages and complimentary ticket passes allocated to staff and business partners.
Over the course of 3 months, the campaign served millions of impressions and generated thousands of ad clicks from the selected audiences, with analytics reports confirming ticket purchases driven by the ads. In addition to direct ticket sales, staff and business partners were encouraged to spread word to friends, promote the festival on social media, and upgrade their general admission passes to VIP tickets.
On festival weekend, some attendees enjoyed performances from acts they'd never heard of. Most hit the beer stands multiple times to refill their Coors Light buckets. Very few, if any, walked away on Sunday with no dollars spent at the event. The impact on ancillary revenue streams further validated the impact of the live music trade program.
At the conclusion of the weekend, after the dust settled, event finals reflected the increase of revenue, but no invoice would ever be sent by HyperValue. The festival received the benefit of increased cash revenue, with no change in cash expenditure for the 2019 event. Profitable growth was achieved.
In a pivotal year, HyperValue's live music trade program helped position the event for future growth, and would quickly become a staple of the marketing mix for years to come.