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Gone Wild Festival

The challenge

 

After the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the event sector, Gone Wild Festival with Bear Grylls faced a daunting task. While their 2021 event managed to successfully navigate the challenges posed by the pandemic, it left behind a lingering sense of scepticism and hesitancy among potential attendees. Rekindling the enthusiasm and creating an appetite for 2022 event tickets became an uphill battle. The festival’s founder / director recognised that a significant transformation was needed to ensure the growth of his vision and festival’s future. He turned to us to take charge of the event strategy. 

The solution

 

To address these challenges head-on, our team at Panoptic devised a comprehensive event strategy that would not only revitalise the festival’s image but also pave the way for long-term success:

  1. Rebranding & Messaging: We conducted a deep dive into customer insight via surveys to help steer messaging & operational changes for future events. This also helped drive our rebranding exercise, crafting a new visual identity and messaging that conveyed the festival’s family-orientated adventurous spirit and commitment to getting outdoors. This helped dispel any lingering doubts from the previous year’s event.
  2. Engaging Content: Leveraging the power of storytelling, we created captivating content that highlighted Bear Grylls’ involvement and showcased the festival’s unique offerings, such as exclusive survival workshops and thrilling outdoor experiences.
  3. Tiering & urgency points: We developed a new tiered pricing strategy to help drive urgency points. This included new ticket options such as “kids go free” and family ticket options. Focusing on when & why people moved through our sales funnel was key in securing early sales in the annual campaign and keeping the sales funnel full. 
  4. Social Media Campaigns: We launched targeted social media campaigns, leveraging Bear Grylls’ personal brand and the festival’s revamped image. These campaigns generated buzz, increased engagement, and fostered a sense of community among potential Gone Wilders.
  1. Enhanced Customer Experience: Sentiment & service are often overlooked as part of an event marketing strategy however, people buy from people. A quick & well-received reply to a comment or a DM goes a long way in building customer confidence. This has been a key pillar of Gone Wild’s growth over the past two & a half years.

The results were remarkable: Gone Wild Festival with Bear Grylls not only sold out its 2023 event but also received overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees, which we continue to gather & analyse. The festival’s reputation was not only restored but elevated to new heights. With a strong foundation in place, the client is now well-positioned for continued growth and success in the years to come.

Looking over the crowd towards a stage at a festival at night. The stage is lit up and there is confetti in the air.