Throughout much of 2016 and early 2017, there was one phrase on the minds of social media influencers: “Fyre Festival”. The doomed music festival earned much attention thanks to its promotional promises and deceptively well-crafted marketing.
Fyre relied on positive brand awareness and social media to draw in customers, hiding the unfolding debacle behind the scenes. The lack of transparency and proper planning led to Fyre Festival’s social slaughter by the very online community they marketed to.
In marketing, it is essential to be transparent and upfront about what is being offered as a product. It leads to nurturing trust with consumers and potential trade partners, builds brand growth, and ensures financial success.
In this article, we’ll examine the steps taken to promote the event and how customers were deceived right up to its eschewed launch.
The Spark of Fyre
Our story begins with Billy MacFarland, a young entrepreneur who had found success through Magnises, a card-based membership club that targeted millennials. Magnises offered benefits including VIP access to clubs, events, and celebrity meet-and-greets. It was through this that MacFarland befriended rap artist Ja Rule. During a trip to the Bahamas, the duo landed on Norman’s Cay, a private island formerly owned by the Medellín Cartel. The beautiful island and the need to promote McFarlane’s new booking app Fyre, inspired the concept of Fyre Festival.
With the island leased, the Fyre team began promoting the festival. They promised the experience of a lifetime: A three-day music festival across two weekends, with a lineup of popular musicians, luxury accommodations, celebrity-cooked food, and all on a tropical paradise amongst supermodels and celebrities.
The next step was attracting ticket buyers. A glossy promotional video was shot on location, featuring several supermodels and Instagram influencers, teasing a party like no other. Fyre further asked the influencers to promote the festival online. Kendall Jenner, who has over 100 million followers on Instagram, received $250,000 to post the promo video. The trailer and use of social media celebrities did the job. The event went viral, and tickets were being sold in the hundreds.
The promotional video did feature one blunder that defined Fyre Festival’s ongoing marketing scheme. Against the wishes of the island’s owners, Fyre specifically promoted it as belonging to mafia don Pablo Escobar; a stipulation McFarlane had agreed to uphold. The lease was immediately reneged, leaving the event without a hosting location, and a marketing strategy that would shield Fyre’s increasing dilemmas.
Pretend Paradise, Pitch Up On A Parking Lot
The festival found a new venue on Great Exuma. Instead of a tropical private island, Fyre would take place on Roker Point, made up of a concrete car park and an abandoned development site. Fyre did not announce the change in venue, instead upholding the lie that it would take place on Pablo Escobar’s island.
The buzz and hype for the festival were too good to dampen, so the falsehood was maintained throughout the campaign. To the consumers, the festival was taking place on “Fyre Cay”. To add to the illusion, fabricated images made it appear that the site was its own island. Fyre’s marketing was handled by Jerry Media, which operates numerous Instagram accounts for content and advertising. When Instagram users expressed concern for Fyre’s preparation, Jerry Media either deleted comments or blocked them. Interestingly, they helped fund Netflix’s Fyre Festival documentary without any mention of their inclusion in the marketing.
No one in Fyre’s team had experience running such a sizable event. McFarlane asked several companies for advice but was baffled when told he needed at least an extra year to plan it, and $50 million to stage it. With only four months until opening day, the organisers pressed on, cutting expenses wherever they could. Musicians, food, infrastructure, staffing, and accommodations were all targeted to save on money.
In the days leading up to the event, all announced artists pulled out, as did the caterers, and luxury villas became unfeasible. Even as Fyre’s organisers rushed around trying to prepare the site, the marketing continued to promote the festival’s promises of luxury.
McFarlane made several attempts to get investments for the Fyre app, but they either fell through or were declined, leaving him to obtain temporary loans to finance the event. Fyre’s attendees were informed the event’s purchases were to be paid through cashless RFIDs linked to their credit cards. McFarlane encouraged them to send thousands of dollars onto the “FyreBands” to raise money quickly for the event. But the site had a poor Wi-Fi connection, rendering the FyreBands useless.
The Fyre Dies Out
The heavy rain that fell on April 27th, 2017, may have been a sign for the impending disaster. Eager guests took their flights from Miami to Great Exuma, ready for the party of their lives. Six hours after arriving, guests were finally taken to a car park full of soaking wet FEMA tents and no musicians in sight. Just five-hundred attendees with nowhere to go. The festival soon descended into a free-for-all to claim tents and mattresses.
Soon, the true disaster of Fyre Festival spread online. A viral image of a cheese sandwich served in a foam container summed up the cheap quality and experience of the event. Fyre was soon the talk of the internet and media, becoming the viral antithesis of its own promotional trailer.
Fyre Festival was cancelled after the chaotic first night, as the Bahamian government had to step in to get the attendees off the island. Apologies were made, but the damage was done. Fyre even attempted to offer full refunds or VIP tickets to the following year’s festival. McFarlane and Ja Rule were the subject of several lawsuits, though the latter was dismissed from them.
Billy McFarlane was arrested by the FBI on charges of wire fraud. When on bail, he committed further fraud by selling tickets to events that had yet to be announced or were publicly unavailable. He was sentenced to prison for six years, released after four, immediately making plans for Fyre Festival II to happen in April 2025.
Why Transparent Marketing is Essential
The embrace of transparent marketing is crucial to a business’s success. Relying on misleading promises to hide a lacklustre product or experience will only lead to backlash and consequential outcomes.
Fyre Festival’s collapse was down to their marketing scheme, lack of organisation, and a practical business plan. The misinformation about the location and expectations was enforced until the very end. Growing consumer awareness should encourage businesses to take more considerate steps in promoting their brands through transparency, or it can harm their reputation and a loss of income and buyers.
The marketing team of UK-based Quadrant2Design, a prolific modular exhibition stand design and build contractor share their insights on the importance of transparency:
“Here at Quadrant2Design, transparency is a core element in our Marketing strategy. In the industry, lack of transparency has caused a range of issues, from greenwashing to risk management and safety procedures.
We wholeheartedly believe in our sustainable exhibiting solution and the processes which lead to the successful delivery of over 550 stands per year. Because of this, we always prioritise transparency in all marketing strategies.”
Fyre Festival will likely go down as one of the worst marketing and event scams in history, reminding us that transparency in promotional materials is crucial to earning trust and good revenue. Relying on distrust will only lead to consumer distrust.
One of Fyre’s organisers was quoted to have said, “Let’s just do it and be legends!” They became viral legends, just not in the way they had hoped.
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