Maria Ruiz

PR 424
April 4, 2019
Case Study

Fyre Festival Campaign

Issue:
Fyre Festival became notorious for being a disaster. It created a lot of buzz on social

media before and after the “festival.” Although it could be considered one of the worst

planned music festivals in history, their social media campaign efforts were a success that

lead to selling out the event. Billy McFarland, CEO and founder of Fyre Media, hired Jerry

Media to manage Fyre Festival’s social media accounts and to coordinate the influencer

marketing component (Vorbrich).

On December 12, 2016 the main influencer campaign started on Instagram when 63

influencers shared posts of blank, orange squares with the hashtag #FyreFest. Although the

influencers were paid to promote the festival, they failed to disclose the sponsored content.

Influencers included supermodels such as Kendall Jenner, Hailey Baldwin, Bella Hadid and

Emily Ratajkowski. The posts got about 300 million impressions in one day. On March 7,

2017 it was announced on Instagram that general admission for the festival had sold out.

About 5,000 people purchased tickets to attend the festival (Fyre Festival Influencer

Marketing).

Audience:

Fyre Festival’s promotional campaign was a success at reaching its target audience,

the “young millennials” (5 Marketing Truths...). The article “5 Marketing Truths We Learned

from Fyre Fest,” called these millennials the “Coachella crowd” and “trust-fund babies.”

These were young, rich millennials with disposable incomes that the festival organizers were
after. As Fyre Festival’s campaign was becoming a hot topic among social media, it tapped

into millennial’s FOMO (fear of missing out) and their necessity of being included in an

event that was “culturally relevant” (Vorbrich).

Research:

Promotors for Fyre Festival had to research the right influencers to promote the event.

The ideal influencers needed to have a large following on his or her Instagram account to

generate engagement, conversation and set cultural trends (The Power of Social Media

Influencers).

As for those simple orange advertisements shared by influencers, the color was

probably carefully chosen by the promotors. Orange is associated with happiness, sunshine,

the tropics, attraction and stimulation. The color “increases oxygen supply to the brain,

produces an invigorating effect and stimulates mental activity” (Color Wheel Pro). Orange is

also “highly accepted” by young people, making it the perfect choice of color for the

advertisements and the audience. The bright color was able to capture the attention of these

young people as they scrolled through Instagram.

Objectives:

The main objectives of this campaign were to promote the festival, create a hype for it

and to generate ticket sales. These objectives were successful, making Fyre Festival the can’t-

miss festival of the year.

Tactics:

Social Media- Fyre Festival chose to promote the event on Instagram. They paid

influencers to promote the event on the social media platform. Instagram has the ability to

reach millions of people from around the world. It is estimated that 90 percent of Instagram
users are under the age of 35, (Instagram Behavior…) and thus making Instagram the perfect

social media platform to easily market to their target audience.

Positioning- Fyre Festival distinguished itself from other music festivals by using

Instagram influencers to promote the event. The promotional videos depicted Fyre Festival as

a VIP experience surrounded by supermodels on a private island in the Bahamas

Evaluation:

Fyre Festival sold out, obviously through their successful campaign. The marketing

strategy was able to get the attention of millennials through the use of Instagram influencers.

The promoters’ knowledge of their target audience was outstanding as were able to convince

them to buy tickets. The campaign also generated hype and created great buzz about the

festival creating a successful campaign.

Analysis:

The best outcome from the campaign was that the festival reached its goal of selling

out the event. Another good outcome was that their marketing strategy pulled in millennials

by choosing the ideal social media platform to target them. Even though the campaign was

successful, it had some flaws as well. One mistake was that most of the influencers failed to

disclose that the posts were sponsored by Fyre Festival. Failure to disclose sponsored content

violates FTC regulations that could lead to fines. A major flaw to the campaign was that the

festival had spent the majority of their budget to pay influencers for the endorsements and

failed to make room in their budget for performers, staff and infrastructure (Hodge). The

worst outcome was that the advertisements were deceiving as the festival turned out to be a

catastrophe.

Fyre Festival´s target audience of young, rich millennials was perfect and they kept

them in mind throughout their entire campaign. Therefore, no audiences were overlooked.
 Fyre Festival researched the ideal Instagram influencers in order to bring attention to

their event. The influencers were young and had a large following on their Instagram

accounts. It can be assumed that many millennials followed these influencers, which

managed to capture their attention. Fyre Festival also probably researched the ideal color for

the blank social media posts that the influencers promoted. This was to capture the attention

of millennials and to pique their interest of the event.

The objectives for the campaign were appropriate to the situation as it was the first

time that Fyre Media held a festival. Fyre Festival wanted to have its name known around the

world and it did just that by creating a hype among social media.

The framing theory was used in Fyre Festival´s promotional campaign in order to

influence the audience. With supermodels being involved in the promotional videos and posts

for Fyre Festival, they had the power to influence the target audience. The festival´s

campaign presented itself as being lavish and exclusive making it feel like the can´t-miss

event at the time.

The key takeaway from the Fyre Festival campaign is that companies can use social

media to successfully capture the attention of their intended target audience. Another

takeaway from the Fyre Festival campaign is that social media influencers undeniably have

the power to influence their followers.

 Works Cited

“5 Marketing Truths We Learned From Fyre Festival.” Medium, Triggers Media, 13 Feb.

2019, medium.com/@triggersmedia/5-marketing-truths-we-learned-from-fyre-

festival-ce73ce276c1a.

“Color Wheel Pro - See Color Theory in Action.” Color Wheel Pro: Color Meaning,

www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html.

“Fyre Festival Influencer Marketing: What Marketers Should Know.” Mediakix, 7 Feb.

2019, mediakix.com/2019/02/fyre-festival-influencer-marketing/#gs.3l08er.

“Instagram Behavior for Teens Different Than Adults.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 16 June

2015, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150616155028.htm.

Hodge, Ann. “The Fyre Festival Fiasco: Marketing Mistakes to Avoid.” Instapage, 19 Sept.

2018, instapage.com/blog/learning-from-marketing-mistakes.

“The Power of Social Media Influencers: Cultural Trendsetters.” Mediakix, 9 Nov. 2018,

mediakix.com/2018/11/power-of-social-media-influencers-trendsetters/#gs.3l0u6i.

Vorbrich, Madison, and Vorbrich. “Fyre Festival: The Most Successful Social Media

Marketing Campaign for a Failed Music Festival, Ever.” SEO, PPC Digital Marketing

Agency & Specialists in Fort Lauderdale, FL, 29 Jan. 2019, tandem-

interactive.com/fyre-festival-social-media-marketing/.