MARCH | COVER FEATURE
audiences.
“You need to put the right team
in place, the right mix of experience,
the right level of experience, clear
leadership and a chain of command
pre, during and post event. The
creatives and strategists work hand in
hand with the producers and live team
to make the vision a reality.
“Analysing Fyre, there wasn’t an
experienced event leadership team
at the helm, nor was there support in
place to do due diligence and bring
specialist expertise to the party. In
fact, it seemed that Andy King was
given the gig due to producing some
wine tastings for Billy McFarland’s
previous enterprise, and the fact that
anyone else with the right experience
or who spoke sense either walked
away, was ignored or exited.”
WRG’s Eaden adds: “Fyre Festival
was an example of when the core
needs are ignored to the point of no
delivery. You can never escape the
fundamentals. Everyone will need
to eat, sleep, and have sanitation,
regardless of what brought them there
in the first place. The dream will only
get you so far.
“To be successful, you work
backwards from what you have at the
core, in this case an island, and build
the infrastructure and experience
from there. Give it time. Give it the
right expertise. Using a new location
always requires compromise, and you
will never know the place as well as
the locals do, so listen to advice, find
the solutions together and be honest
about the challenges you’ll face.
“A production on this scale needs a
team to match. Ambitions can be met
with the right group drawing on the
right experience and listening to one
another, hitting that perfect balance
that makes the greatest festivals and
events the experiences they are.”
The lack of due diligence also
worried Wasserman’s Chapman.
“There were no checks on the guy
at the head – he had no experience,
thought he knew it all and no one
questioned him. The one who did
was shipped off.
“Normally, for something
this grand in scope, you have a
visionary at the head who is known
for doing things properly, but who
would also have a team doing
checks on everything. People didn’t
pause to think and were swept
along by the vision and blinded by
the money.
“That being said, if they’d have
moved him out early enough and
brought someone in with the
correct experience, they still could
have made it a success. It wasn’t a
million miles away from where it
needed to be. When they moved
to the main island and there was
infrastructure, they had a chance
then. They were still way behind
what it was meant to be, but had
they planned right from there, had
a supplier, built the units, then
shown everyone what they were, it
could have worked.
Chapman also suggests an
alternative PR strategy at this
juncture. “They should have put
out a release about the move,
outlined the challenges they faced,
and shown the new offer and then
given something back to the people
who had already bought tickets -
they would have got good take up,
again, because the concept was so
strong.”
The cracks were showing from
the start, however, says BeKnown’s
Andrew. “Like with anything,
when you have proof of concept it
can negate risks. Perhaps get the
support and infrastructure from
a bigger promoter, and make sure
everything is in its right place and
can be pulled off. They went too
big too soon. If they worked with
a bigger backer or infrastructure
partner they could have been
successful.”
Andrew, who has worked with a
lot of unique venues, recommends
starting small before going big,
Top left, clockwise:
Gluska, Eaden,
pointing to aspirational events at
Emmins
manor houses which create a great
exclusive atmosphere. “Overall,
Fyre Festival was an expensive
job and needed a lot of forward
planning. They got caught up in
the fun bits like the photoshoots,
the drinking, the models, but you
need portaloos, proper site access,
and plan Bs for what to do in an
emergency. Then there’s meeting
with police, councils, and planning
resources.
“I’m not sure if they had a
business continuity plan but they
were very much out of their depth,
and had a bit too much money
at first. The guy went from club
promoting for 1,000 people or so, to
taking on a huge crowd.”
Despite this, Andrew is no
naysayer when it comes to
bold venue choices. “Nothing is
impossible, but there’s lots to plan
for that turns an event from being
potentially great, to being a failure.
We see this at the best festivals
and award shows – when they’ve
planned for every moment, and it
shows.”
NonNonsense’s Madden adds:
“The founders assumed things
would happen. They assumed
it would be easy rather than doing the leg work,
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