How Does Coachella Segment Their Attendees Through the Use of Media? by megan.palumbo18

Running head: DO MUSIC FESTIVALS SEGMENT THEIR ATTENDEES

How Does Coachella Segment Their Attendees Through the Use of Media? Megan Palumbo Lasell College

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DO MUSIC FESTIVALS SEGMENT THEIR ATTENDEES

Abstract Coachella is considered one of the most attended music festivals in the U.S. Considering this, it is wondered how the festival attracts crowds in the hundreds of thousands for two weekends a year. Through content and format features, festival organizers are able to segment their audiences into niche markets, which in turn build marketing strategies to attract new and loyal attendees. With the purpose of finding out how Coachella segments their audiences, this paper examines its marketing strategies across two social media platforms (Facebook & Instagram) along with its official website. Results show Coachella capitalizes on vivid memories and experiential marketing through sponsorships, online community discussions, and usergenerated content. Keywords: Coachella, segmentation, Facebook, Instagram, experience Word Count: 7,540

DO MUSIC FESTIVALS SEGMENT THEIR ATTENDEES

Introduction Each spring, hundreds of thousands of people pack their suitcases or cars, in hopes of the best experience of their lives. For two weekends in April, Coachella Music Festival is pulling off one of the most attended music festivals in the U.S. Before this happens, however, festival organizers spend ample amounts of time coordinating what will occur at each year’s festival, making sure its attendees are satisfied. Additionally, festival organizers are trying to attract new attendees, while keeping returning ones loyal. To achieve both goals successfully, Coachella must invest in market segmentation to identify their target audiences. From these findings, Coachella can build their marketing strategies, lineup, food vendors, sponsors, and essentially its whole festival experience around their attendees’ needs. Festivals as large as Coachella then offer a sense of belonging and over the top experience that attendees will never forget and will yearn for in years to come. Literature Review Music festivals segmenting their attendees Music festivals are always trying to increase their number of attendees. This includes finding ways to attract new audiences, while concurrently promoting loyal attendees by meeting their needs. The challenge for festival organizers is to satisfy different niche markets with a single event. In order to keep track of or achieve this business goal, festival organizers will use market segmentation to clearly identify which targeted audiences they should connect with through marketing strategies. Market segmentation is, “identifying groups of potential customers who have different needs, wants, tastes, and preferences” (Kinnunen, Luonila, & Honkanen, 2018, p. 3). Tkaczynski and Rundle-Thiele (2011) found 120 event segmentation studies from

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1993 to 2010, which stated segmentation is considered an essential means for the development of measures to increase audiences and their commitment (p. 426). Lee and Kyle (2014) define commitment as a tendency to be devoted to festival attendance, despite alternative options for leisure and other trip options. They explain further that when festival attendees have positive experiences, they begin to associate their self-image with that festival and have a stronger willingness to devote their time and effort to revisiting the festival (pg. 658). According to Dolnicar (2002) segmentation methods can be divided into two broad categoriesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;conceptual or data driven. The conceptual method is comparing a first-time attendee versus a regular or loyal attendee, while the data driven method is experimental, based on a set of research that is grouped into quantitative results (pg. 3-4). The most used perspective for the segmentation of music festival attendees is motivation, while other variables include demographics, origin, musical preferences, behavior intentions, consumption, activities, and perceptions on event attributes (Kinnunen, Luonila, & Honkanen, 2018, p. 5). Through a festival barometer survey focused on the largest Finnish rhythm music festivals, Kinnunen, Luonila, and Honkanen (2018) used music preferences to segment the audience into groups such as hedonistic dance crowd, loyal heavy tribe, and highly-educated omnivores. The segmentation was done using cluster analysis, thus differentiating each subgroup from one another. The loyal heavy tribe is into heavy metal and rock. Based on their findings, this group is considered very loyal and their attendance at festivals is more probable than the other segments. This group is also the oldest out of the three groups, and exudes personal values such as benevolence, hedonism, and self-direction (Kinnunen, Luonila, & Honkanen, 2018, p. 13). The hedonistic dance crowd is the youngest audience and is interested in electric dance music (EDM), pop, and rap/hip-hop. The members of this segment are sure that they will attend

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the festival the following year, however, they are unsure of their attendance loyalty for the next ten years (Kinnunen, Luonila, & Honkanen, 2018, p. 14). This journal explains how hedonists have been presented in other studies, concluding the separation from everyday life and the possibility to enjoy oneself comprises the important elements of hedonistic festival attendance (p. 14). According to the survey’s results, the highly-educated omnivores are classified as the “cultural elite” group who enjoys almost all kinds of music. This group was predominantly female (70%) and has the highest educational level and income level (p. 14). It was stated, “Today’s retirees are holding onto the musical taste of their youth” (Djakouane & Négrier, 2016, Liikkanen, 2009) which would explain why older festival attendees are loyal throughout the years. As technology continues to advance, Fonseca and Ramos (2014) argue that audiences will condition the future of music retailing (Fonseca and Ramos, 2014, pg. 3). They investigated the motivations of Portuguese consumers of rock/pop music festivals regarding dimensions such as socialization, the novelty of the festival, consumption/expenditures, routine break, travel/tourism, and risks (pg. 3). Three profiles or segments were identified: The music lovers (53%), the networkers (33%), and the tourists (14%). Music lovers are most associated to festivals by the musical performances. They are looking to be stimulated, excited, expect to do something different from the usual at the festival, while not paying a lot of money for their experience. This group gets information about music festivals on television, and they believe a festival should last 2 to 3 days (pg. 12-13). The networkers group attends festivals not to escape their everyday lives, but to just be with friends. This explains why they attend festivals in large groups and believe they should last 4 to 7 days. According to Fonseca and Ramos’ results, the socialization is so important for this

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profile, that not having company would be the main reason for not going to a pop/rock festival. They're informed on the festival through the Internet and friends, and tend to spend more money on tickets, transportation, and accommodation/food (pg. 13-14). Lastly are the tourists, who, based on their memorable experiences, consider a festival’s location and its organization to be very important. Fonseca and Ramos claim a music festival for the tourists means culture, drink, free gifts, camping, photography, security, and family (pg. 14). They think a festival should last 1 day or more than 7 days, while they usually attend the event alone or with one other person. Interestingly, they consider festival camping expensive and would rather stay at a campsite outside the festival area, book a hotel, or even rent a room or a house. Audience segmentation is important for festival organizers to understand, for ultimately increasing their attendance rates. However, other factors affect this increase. Leenders, Telgen, Gemser & Van der Wurff (2005) conducted a study on how to organize a successful music festival. This this context, success is defined as the growth in the number of visitors over time (pg. 150). They identify determinants of festival success as content features and format features by stating, “The content features include scope of the audience, lineup, age, and having a theme or message. Budget, ticket price, location, and having a maximum visitor capacity make up the format features” (pg. 150). They studied 47 Dutch music festivals between the years 1970 to 2001 and found the higher the budget, the higher the price of the ticket and the more stars perform at the festival. Additionally, festivals that focus on a broad target group are less successful than niche festivals and adding a theme or message does not affect a festival’s success (pg. 153-154). Beyond their results, they make critical suggestions on how festivals can keep up or improve their performance by stating, “Niche festivals are successful in attracting larger audiences...festival organizers may thus be better off if they invest more in product development

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and niche marketing rather than exploiting and extending current brand equity” (pg. 155). To achieve this, festival organizers can adopt an “umbrella” brand strategy, which focuses on core experience attributes and specific tastes of festival audiences (pg. 155). Engaging audiences through social media, sponsorships, motivation factors Once a festival promoter has segmented their niche target audiences, they will then implement marketing strategies to engage with each group. Manthiou, Lee, Tang, and Chiang (2012) explained that understanding festival attendees’ experience is imperative for festival organizers because the attendees’ experience is a predictor for their future behavior. “Providing satisfactory experience to attendees is the key for the long-term success of festivals” (p. 22). The better the experience an attendee has, the more likely they will want to return to the event in following years as well as spreading positive word-of-mouth reviews. Lee and Kyle (2014) believe quality experience can be created by effectively designing and managing the physical and social environments of a festival (pg. 666). According to Crompton (2003) physical and social environment attributes include entertainment, activities, arts and crafts, educational programs, cultural heritage exhibits, clean restrooms, parking, information services, and vendor interaction (308). With these factors in mind, festival organizers can understand what needs to be considered when planning the festival to ensure attendee satisfaction. The best way to create a satisfactory experience is to strengthen the consumers’ memory of the events they participate in. Pine and Gilmore focus on the various components of memory, which are contextual and perceptual beliefs, multimodal spatial imagery, narrative reasoning, emotions, recollection, and vividity (Manthiou, Lee, Tang, & Chiang, 2012, p. 23). Between all these components, vividity is the most important for tourism studies, as it tries to create vivid

DO MUSIC FESTIVALS SEGMENT THEIR ATTENDEES memories for attendees, which they will remember for the rest of their lives. According to the script theory, the script is a knowledge structure or experience, which is stored in the memory based on its vividness. When this script has been stored in memory it is used to direct behavior or attendance loyalty when activated (p. 23). This theory helps explain festival attendees’ decision-making behavior when it comes to attending a music festival again. It is all based off the person’s initial experience, which becomes the script or memories they have towards a festival which will influence their decision-making process on whether to be a loyal attendee. Experiences are very personal, with each person’s experience ranging from the next. Festivals are key examples of using experience economy, which is a concept that suggests

experience is a form of economic offering and is difficult to be imitated and replaced (Manthiou, Lee, Tang, and Chiang, 2012, p. 22). Pine and Gilmore (1998) have identified four concepts of consumer experience which are education, entertainment, escapism, and esthetics (pg. 102). Coachella follows all four by educating attendees on new bands and vendors/businesses, including special programs, amenities, and entertainment quality, giving attendees a place to escape their everyday environments, and lastly putting off a “cool” physical environment/mood. Manthiou, Lee, Tang, and Chiang (2012) reported that, “vividity of memory is significantly impacted by all four dimensions of experience economy, while loyal visitors are mainly affected by esthetics and entertainment dimensions” (pg. 28). In their results they also give suggestions to festival organizers on how to achieve each level of experience. The commercialization of music festivals has been more prevalent in the 21 st century. Cummings (2008) interviews people who have attended five or more indie festivals in Australia, to give a judgmental sampling. In her paper, she attributes Leadbeater and Oakley (1999) stating, “the new cultural entrepreneurs, such as festival organizers, promoters, market and food

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stallholders, musicians and artists, play a ‘critical role in promoting social cohesion and a sense of belonging’” (Cummings, 2008, p. 679). People involved with planning and managing music festivals are promoting a sense of belonging because their attendees are coming from diverse and separate cultures for the event, therefore, the attendees are segmenting themselves in the first place. Ken West ties in his point that, “Most people don’t even know their neighbors anymore. People create their own communities. What’s happening now is that festivals are understanding their need to specialize and create their market” (Cummings, 2008, p. 679). Festival organizers use sponsorships to ease their financial burdens while planning a music festival. Sponsorships not only help the organizer, but they affect the overall output of the festival, making sure its attendees are having the best experiences possible. According to Oakes (2003), “From the brand manager’s perspective, the sponsorship of the music festivals provides opportunities for targeted communication to the relatively homogenous festival audience comprised primarily of young people” (Rowley & Williams, 2008, pg. 781). Successful music festivals, such as Coachella, have upped their sponsorships throughout the years. When more sponsors become attached to the festival, the festival becomes more well known when it is advertised. However, the type of sponsors should be considered for festivals with a range in attendees. The Falls festival organizer Naomi Daly believes, “when choosing sponsors, they need to have a logical reason for their involvement in the festival not a purely economic one” (Cummings, 2008, p. 681). Hafez and Ling (2006) suggest music is an effective marketing tool because it helps consumers make emotional connections with the brand, concerts are effective for targeting a young audience, and music can bind an integrated marketing campaign (pg. 364). Sponsors are using experience enhancement techniques to do more than just bring their brand to an event. Through experiential marketing, sponsors can learn “what kind of spaces they

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might be able to build around their brand” (Moor, 2003, pg. 46). According to Cummings (2008), sponsors can enhance the festival goer’s experience through creating fun and interesting things to do and see, which creates a “vibe” within the festival (pg. 681). At the 2016 Coachella festival H&M served as an effective sponsor by opening a pop-up store to sell their exclusive ‘H&M Loves Coachella’ collection on-site. For the absent audience, the brand set up digital events in addition (Sträble & Kriegel, 2018, p. 18). This was an effective branding strategy for H&M who took the targeted audience at the festival and used it to their advantage by selling exclusive products that customers could only get if they attended the festival. Witness, a musicbased ‘sister brand’ for Guinness used ambient communications, such as graffiti and street stunts to promote their music festival. It was intended that those consumers who were ‘touched’ by the brand’s message, would then pass on the information about Witness to their friends and members of their social networks (Moor, 2003, pg. 45). According to Pike (2016) festivals attract an influential and social media affine audience, and such sharing is considered a “currency of cool” (para. 7). Many companies have embraced social media marketing because of its powerful engagement and collaboration with consumers. Through social media, marketers can gain rich, unmediated consumer insights, faster than ever before (S. Hudson & R. Husdon, 2013, pg. 207). S. Hudson & R. Hudson (2013) analyzed three major music festivals—Bonnaroo, Latitude, and Lollapalooza—to identify ways in which festival organizers effectively used social media to engage with their audiences. In 2012, Bonnaroo announced their lineup on Spotify, which attracted over 25,000 subscribers, and encouraged guests to register their wristbands online, offering incentives such as VIP upgrades, festival merchandise, and the chance to win a Ford Escape from Ford Motor Company, which sponsored social check-ins. (pg. 214). S. Hudson &

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R. Hudson (2013) stated, “Of the 80,000 people who purchased wristbands, 74,000 registered them online and about half of those connected the wristbands to their Facebook accounts” (pg. 214). They mentioned throughout the weekend at Bonnaroo there were announcements on the big screen encouraging consumers to use social media and post pictures of their experiences. Afterwards, Bonnaroo posted pictures of the campsites on their Facebook page, asking attendees to tag themselves where they camped at the festival (pg. 214). Bonnaroo’s social media engagement proved to be effective because they catered to attendee’s needs before, during, and after the festival, thus creating an overall positive experience that can be remembered for a long time with the help of social media documentation. Lee and Kyle (2014) suggest, “To stimulate, entertain, and attract younger and first-time visitors who often exhibit low commitment, managers can formulate marketing strategies that focus on a variety of products/programs that are more active and participatory” (pg. 667) which is what Bonnaroo successfully did in 2012. Experiential marketing at Coachella To date, very little academic research has been conducted on Coachella Music Festival. The research that has been conducted has focused on live brand experiences but has not looked at audience segmentation through these brand experiences. Therefore, I am going to analyze the marketing strategies of Coachella in order to determine how they segment their audiences. I will be using unscholarly articles to further this argument in the discussions section. As mentioned earlier, Coachella has upped their sponsorships since its creation in 2001. Perrella (2017) conducted a case study to examine the best practices in experiential marketing at Coachella Music Festival, including brands like H&M, Heineken, Sephora, Absolut, Uber, and Tag Heuer (pg. 12). Perrella found that the top three companies to create a memorable

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experience with customers was Heineken, H&M, and Sephora (pg. 18). Each brand was able to provide festival attendees with unique, out of the box ideas that were engaging and emotionally secure. Heineken, who has been an official sponsor of Coachella for 15 years, created a Heineken House to celebrate their 15th anniversary (pg. 15). The house had multiple indoor rooms and an outdoor patio with different activities going on. There was a sustainable dance floor in the living room, two bars and outdoor games on the patio, and charging stations and misters for cooling off (pg. 15). Heineken also built a graffiti wall that consumers could make create their own art or message on that could be printed or emailed to them when it was finished (pg. 15). Additionally, people could get their beer delivered to them by a brand ambassador on a bike (pg. 16). This marketing strategy went above and beyond at providing festival attendees an experience they will never forget, utilizing the importance of vividity. H&M built a 40x80 feet pop up store, located directly next to the electric dance music tent, which Perrella stated, “a stage visited by much of H&M’s target audience” (pg. 13). The pop up shop sold exclusive “H&M loves Coachella” merchandise, “allowing attendees to feel like they were special and a part of an exclusive experience not offered elsewhere” (pg. 18). In addition, was a 360-degree selfie mirror with professional lighting, air conditioning, recharging stations, Wi-Fi, and water refill stations (pg. 13). Sephora, another well-known sponsor of Coachella offered a do-it-yourself beauty bar. Perrella explained, “As many of the Coachella attendees camp and do not have much access to a beauty parlor, this brand activation was a very popular site to visit” (pg. 16). The beauty bar also had a photo booth, where attendees could take photos of their new looks. Whoever shared their photos on social media were entered to win a bunch of different prizes (pg. 16).

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A Media Kix case study of Coachella in 2016 highlighted brands like American Express, Revolve Clothing, and Live Lokai to see how they “cultivated positive brand identities by collaborating with social media stars at Coachella” (Media Kix, 2016, pg. 2). Brand ambassadors contribute with great social reach (Sträble & Kriegel, 2018, pg. 24). American Express offered VIP access, prizes, and free tickets to Coachella 2017 for AMEX members through the #AmexAccess social media campaign (Media Kix, 2016, pg. 4). The brand called upon highreach influencers like Adam Gallagher and Patrick Janelle to post photos with the hashtag, and bring awareness to the American Express mobile app. This campaign reached over 15 million people across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, which Media Kix stated is, “approximately 75 times the number of people who attended Coachella 2016” (pg. 4). Revolve Clothing however, doubled their reach to over 30 million people by hosting a Desert House party with fashionforward influencers such as Bella Thorne, Aimee Song, and Danielle Bernstein (pg. 5). Each influencer documented their experience using the hashtag #RevolveFestival which received 1.6 million likes and over 12,000 comments, proving to be very engaging with its target audience (pg. 6). Live Lokai was not a well-known sponsor at Coachella, so to gain brand awareness, the company partnered with celebrities like Vanessa Hudgens, Nina Dobrev, and social influencers Melissa Eckman and Kyra Santoro (pg. 7). By the end of the festival Live Lokai’s campaign reached over 40 million people, earned over 2.2 million likes, and received 14,000 comments, proving to be the most successful out of the other brands mentioned (pg.7). Methods From the literature, it is apparent that audience segmentation is a part of the festival organizers’ marketing strategies. In order to reach all the niche markets that are apparent in society today, organizers must connect with each group’s wants and needs. It is also apparent

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from the literature that organizers are trying to engage with attendees in creative ways through sponsorships, the overall festival atmosphere, and musicians that are performing, to achieve loyal festival attendees. However, little research exists on the audience segmentation of Coachella Music Festival through media and its sponsorships. Because Coachella is one of the most popular music festivals in the U.S., a media analysis on its audience segmentation and marketing strategies may play a large role in understanding how to successfully organize a large festival that meet attendees’ needs from all different segmentations. As Lee and Kyle (2014) state, “Segmenting visitors and identifying their specific needs and behaviors ought to be in festival organizers’ foremost interest. It enables them to develop effective marketing strategies and, ultimately, ensure their long-term economic viability” (pg. 656). Therefore, examining how Coachella reaches their target audience(s) can be useful to other music festivals that are struggling to attract new attendees or maintain loyal ones. The official Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival website and its official Facebook and Instagram accounts provided evidence for this analysis. Given the amount of online traffic each social platform receives, they were crucial for obtaining accurate information about the festival and its marketing strategies. Furthermore, both Facebook and Instagram platforms were chosen for this analysis because of the different demographics that interact with each platform. It is widely known that older people tend to choose Facebook as their preferred social media because it has been around longer, versus younger people who prefer Instagram because of its modern layout and logistics. This is important when analyzing the difference between segmented groups of festival attendees and how they engage with a music festival such as Coachella. The time frame for this analysis was based on the previous year’s marketing campaigns on social

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media, along with what is currently being done now. The analysis also included the official websiteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most up to date information on the upcoming festival in 2019. The purpose of this analysis was not to identify all the amenities that come with a music festival, but rather to look specifically at which target audience each offering is meant for. That is, how are the choices of sponsors, food, lodging, music lineup helping Coachella segment their audiences? Does Coachella fully understand their attendeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; wants and needs? What is Coachella using their social media for? Solely relaying festival information? Spreading brand awareness for its sponsors? Featuring its lineup? How Coachella markets itself plays a large role in its effectiveness, because realistically, the attendees are driving Coachella to realign its marketing strategies to remain on top. Analysis Coachella Music Festival official website Before entering the official Coachella.com 2018 there is another page informing the viewer there are no more passes available. However, they offer other options on the page such as accessing your account, advanced sale information, and travel packages (Coachella, 2018a). These options are geared toward loyal attendees who opted for the early payment. The advanced sale option for the 2019 Coachella festival happened on June 1, 2018 at 11 a.m. PDT, and it was the only time to take advantage of the Coachella payment plan (Coachella, 2018b). On this page, they break down what the payments would be, using a General Admission ticket as example. A 3-day GA pass is $429 that is split into seven payments of $61.28-$61.29 from June to December (Coachella, 2018b). However, they do not announce the festival lineup until January 2, just three days until the regular sale time. This means people who are buying their passes during the

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advanced sale time are taking a risk not knowing who will perform until the full lineup is announced 6 months later. Below the payment plan information lists all the other ticket options, add-ons, and travel packages. Ticket options and add-ons are festival pass with shuttle combo ($504), preferred parking ($150), VIP pass ($999), car camping ($125), preferred car camping ($325), tent camping ($125), camping companion parking ($60) (Coachella, 2018b). On-site packages are the Lake Eldorado Tee-pee with 2 GA passes ($2458), Lake Eldorado 4-person tent with 4 GA passes ($3316), Lake Eldorado with 2 VIP passes ($3600), Lake Eldorado with 4 VIP passes ($5600), Safari 2-person tent with 2 Safari guest passes ($9500) (Coachella, 2018b). Travel packages are available for both weekends through Valley Music Travel, which ranges from local resorts, platinum estates, on-site lodging packages, and offers shuttle passes for people to get to the festival (Coachella, 2018c). VMT posted a 1-minute promotional video of all the on-site lodging, VIP sections, art structures, and people having fun at Coachella, portraying what it would be like to stay in one of Coachella’s premium lodging options (Coachella, 2018c). Despite advanced sale passes being sold out, the viewer can still enter the official website by clicking on a “Enter Coachella.com 2018” button (Coachella, 2018a). The pre-website page also directs the viewer to all of Coachella’s social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube, and Snapchat (Coachella, 2018a). I will be analyzing Facebook and Instagram later in this paper. Steering the viewer to social media is especially geared toward younger people who do not have the money at that moment, or individuals that want to learn more about the festival before making the commitment of buying a pass. People who do not have steadily incomes can work for the money over the course of a few months, then pay it all at once through people reselling passes on social media.

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Once you get through to the homepage of main website it has tabs full of information about the festival. Categories range from lineup and passes to guides, trip planning, and experience (Coachella, 2018d). The main landing page has last year’s lineup poster, ways to “Plan Your Coachella” through digital guides, festival maps, eat & drink, festival directory, experiences (to enjoy along with the music), the “Essence of Coachella” with a quote from Tyler the Creator saying “I never want to grow up.”, Coachella 2018 mobile app, Coachella’s 2018 playlists, social media posts, and link to sign up for their newsletter (Coachella, 2018d). Under “Eat & Drink” is all the featured restaurants, pop up restaurants, Indio Central Market, Ice Cream and over 100 food vendors (Coachella, 2018e). You can click on each food option tab to view each restaurant, where they will be located, what types of food they offer, and a link to their official website to check out the menu further. It also states, “With plenty of options for every taste and budget, and ample menu items for vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free guests, we promise you’ll never go hungry” (Coachella, 2018e). The variety in food options implies that festival organizers are considering every attendee’s tastes and dietary restrictions. Not being able to eat inside the festival may hold someone back from going, however Coachella is able to meet those need with over 100 food vendors. The lineup from last year’s festival is separated by each day, with more popular artists featured at the beginning and in larger text font (Coachella, 2018f). As the list of artists goes on, the font size gets smaller for the lesser-known artists. When looking at the poster my eyes immediately went to the larger names, and then I looked at the full list, being mindful of the smaller groups performing. The lineup consists of a variety in music genres like pop, rock, hiphop, indie/alternative, and electric dance music (EDM) (Coachella, 2018f). This variety helps attract a large crowd of people with various music tastes and serves as a place where they can

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listen to all their favorite artists, while discovering new groups they were not aware of before. Under the “Lineup” tab is also a sub-tab for set times, which was not released until the week of the festival on their social media and website (Coachella, 2018f). In addition to performances on the normal stages, there are lineup posters for the Do LaB and Heinenken House, two other locations attendees can listen to music (Coachella, 2018f). According the the Do LaB website, they are a company that designs and builds innovative structures and immersive environments (Do Lab, 2018). Heineken House is aligned with Heineken’s sponsorship at Coachella. At the bottom of the website there is a list of other resources such as festival history, sponsors, contact, forum, privacy policy, terms of use, wristband terms, and links to Coachella social media (Coachella, 2018d). The section I looked into the most was the “Forum” page, which is the “Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival Message Board” compiled with Coachella discussion topics (Coachella, 2018g). According to the statistics section at the bottom of the forum home page, there are 86,281 threads, 3,086,841 posts, 346,921 members, and 1,114 active members (online the same time I was) (Coachella, 2018g). The discussion topics with the most threads include “Passes”, “Camping/Lodging”, and “Line Up/Artists” (Coachella, 2018g). This page serves as an inner community welcomed to festival-goers, people looking to buy tickets or learning more about the ins and outs of the festival prior to attending.

Coachella’s social media platforms: Facebook & Instagram Coachella’s social media platforms are very similar in the way they look visually. Facebook and Instagram have the same profile picture of a large star sculpture from 2018 Coachella, and a header photo of the panoramic view of Coachella Valley during the festival.

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Both pages link the official Coachella website on the “About” (Facebook, 2018a) or bio area (Instagram, 2018a). Coachella posts the same content on each platform, which shows they are not segmenting audiences by a specific platform. During the “off season” when the festival is not in full swing, posts are spread out weeks to months at a time. In 2017, there was a long period of time when Coachella did not post anything. Their last post was on May 26 th and they did not post on Instagram/Facebook until September 27th, four months later. After this post, the next time they posted on Instagram/Facebook was January 2 nd, with the 2018 lineup poster. Facebook received 124,000 reactions, 34,000 comments, and 54,585 shares (Facebook, 2018b). For the same post, Instagram got 218,000 likes and 21,900 comments (Instagram, 2018b). Posts become more regular after tickets are sold in January, and progress to 2-3 times week. Information that is being posted includes submitting an art design for a Coachella recycling bin with Global Inheritance (Instagram & Facebook, 2018a), Coachella lineup playlists on Spotify (Instagram & Facebook, 2018b), information on travel packages available with Valley Music Travel (Instagram & Facebook, 2018c), and a reminder to get the Coachella mobile app to listen to curated playlists and customizing a schedule for the festival, so you can see all your favorite artists (Instagram & Facebook, 2018d). Mixed in are posts from past festivals, and Coachella tags the person whose video or photo is being featured. By doing this, it seems like Coachella is being nostalgic from last year’s festival, and they are posting this to get followers excited for the festival to come. Captions for posts are short and simple, no more than two sentences for an easy read. It also allows the viewer to focus more on the visuals. By March, there is only a month before the two-weekend festival and posts get ramped up to once or twice a day. These posts range from more nostalgic attendee photos (Instagram & Facebook, 2018e), posts about upcoming Coachella sponsors (Instagram & Facebook, 2018f),

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and throwback videos of past performances categorized as #CoachellaClassics (Instagram & Facebook, 2018g). Another popular social media trend on both Facebook and Instagram is called “Eat at Coachella,” featuring over 15 future vendors and gourmet foods ranging from different tastes like fish tacos, vegan ice cream to fried chicken wings, calzones called “Trapizzino,” and the beloved Shake Shack (Instagram & Facebook, 2018h). A lot of their posts have partners/sponsors, musicians, and attendees tagged in them, allowing the viewer to simply click on the tag and go to another page. Posts featuring a Coachella sponsor such as American Express (Instagram & Facebook, 2018f), Absolut (Instagram & Facebook, 2018f), Peet’s Coffee (Instagram & Facebook, 2018f), etc are designed to match the festival’s esthetic, so the viewer might not know it is an ad at first glance. However, it does say “Paid Partnership” very small at the top where a location would be added. During the festival, photos, videos, and gifs are being posted 3-4 times a day. If you are not at the festival that weekend, looking at their social media will make you wish you were there. Posts have colorful and lively videos and photos of performers on stage, models wearing Coachella merchandise, food vendors and what is on their menus, #AnswerTime with Coachella artists where fans can submit questions that will be answered by the artists on Coachella’s Tumblr, and art sculptures/attractions around the festival grounds (Instagram & Facebook, 2018i). There was a short video posted on April 23rd captioned, “It’s a beautiful thing.” featuring @benmullinkossons a man in his 50’s who loves going to Coachella. The video was a short interview with the man and b-roll of him dancing at night in front of the stage (Instagram, 2018c) saying: “I turned 58 last October 5th. Look at this 50-year-old teenager getting to dance around. And you can feel free for 3 days to forget the world’s worries, forget your business

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worries, and you can dance, you can sleep in a tee-pee. You can meet friendly strangers from all over the world, that are always so polite. It’s a beautiful thing. And it benefits everybody.” Despite posting the same content, Coachella’s Facebook and Instagram are different based on the format for each platform. Coachella’s Facebook has 2,068,438 followers and 2,086,717 page likes (Facebook, 2018c), while Instagram only has 1,600,000 followers (Instagram, 2018a). Surprisingly though, Instagram gets more engagements. For example, on the advance sale post went out on May 30th this year, Facebook’s post got 600,900 reactions, 100,600 comments, and 656 shares (Facebook, 2018d), while Instagram’s post received 870,800 likes and 7,617 comments (Instagram, 2018d). Facebook may have more followers because it has been around since Coachella 2007, but the Instagram has more engagements because it is more visually pleasing and easier to use than Facebook. The Coachella Facebook page has more features where users can interact with one another more, versus Instagram where the user is interacting with the platform more. For example, Facebook has the festival under “Upcoming Events” where you can see all the details for each weekend (times, dates, map, ticket link) and indicate if you are “Going” or “Interested” (Facebook, 2018e). There is a “Discussion” section that has recent activity related to the event. People can write a post, add a photo/video, or create a poll within the discussion. Users are posting that they are selling tickets, asking to buy tickets, offering shuttle services, asking FAQ, and sharing a closed Coachella 2019 Facebook group for others to join (Facebook, 2018e). In addition to these discussion pages, the ‘Coachella Music and Arts Festival California 2019’ is a forum advertised for “solo travelers, meetups, pre-party, ride-share & much more!!!” This group has 10,656 members and under the description is states, “Our main goal is here is to help the 1st

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timers meet & connect ravers from around the world going to Coachella making sure everyone has the best festival experience!” (Facebook, 2018e). The Facebook group allows attendees to learn as much as they can before going to the festival as well as connect with more experienced attendees, developing a community relationship. Under the “About” page is a “Biography” section that lists all of the festival sponsors with a link to their homepage. Sponsors listed for the 2019 Coachella are: Absolut, Adidas, American Express, BMWi, Cupcake Vineyards, Electric Standard, Heineken, HP, Marriott Rewards & SPG, Method, New Era Cap, Peet’s Coffee, Sephora, and Sirius XM (Facebook, 2018a). Most brands are familiar except Electric Standard, which is a portable phone charger company. From following the link provided I was able to learn more about each company, their product/services, and understand how they are relevant to Coachella. Instagram has posts featuring sponsors, but they tagged the company within the post so I could check out their Instagram page. Facebook’s “Photos” section allows photo albums to be uploaded, with unlimited number of photos in an album. Coachella breaks up their albums by Day 1, 2, and 3 of Weekend 1, and the same for Weekend 2 (Facebook, 2018g). Additionally, there are albums for Global Inheritance Highlights, Eat at Coachella Highlights, and Art of Coachella Highlights (Facebook, 2018g). The segmented photo albums allow users to view specific photos based on the day, weekend, and specialty of the festival, and each album consists of 10 to 42 photos (Facebook, 2018g). Coachella’s Instagram interface is simpler than Facebook’s, however it is very interactive for its users. On the homepage, there are rows of three posts, the most recent posts at the top (Instagram, 2018a). Above the posts is the “Highlights” section including small bubbles that the user can click on. Each highlight is a montage of saved Instagram stories based on a specific

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topic. Coachella’s “Highlights” include Weekend 1, Weekend 2, Causes, Set Times, Live Stream, Classics, New Music, Playlists, and Coachella AR (Augmented Reality) (Instagram, 2018e). Going through the “Highlights” makes you feel like you are at Coachella with close up videos of artists performing, colorful and fun video effects built to make gifs or esthetically pleasing videos, short feature stories like @benmullinkossons’s that was also posted on the main Coachella page, and remember old performances with the #CoachellaClassics, while discovering new artists from the “New Music” highlight (Instagram, 2018e). The “Playlists” highlight four playlists on Spotify, made for different music tastes and feature 2018 Coachella lineup artists (Instagram, 2018f). “Sundown Sounds” was playlist takeover from the band Magic Giant. It has 2,214 followers and features 72 pop, hip-hop, and EDM songs “made for twilight [and] have enough energy to excite for the night” (Spotify, 2018a). “Made in the Shade” was a playlist takeover made by artist Jacob Banks. It has 1,774 followers and features 65 indie/alternative songs. This playlist is described as “when you want to get to Coachella early to discover something new” (Spotify, 2018b). “Songs with Palms” was a playlist takeover by the band Otoboke Beaver. It has 1,654 followers and includes indie/alternative, rock, and pop songs perfect for “a walk, a bike ride, or a long drive with all the windows down” (Spotify, 2018c). These playlists are effective tools for Coachella to see who in their audience are in it for the music. Discussion There is no doubt when organizing a festival as large as Coachella, it is challenging to appeal to different audiences and meet their wants and needs. However, audience segmentation

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can help. As Lee and Kyle (2014) stated, “Market segmentation enables marketers to identify those groups of consumers who might respond favorably to the marketing mix by accurately defining their needs and wants” (pg. 658). Festival organizers need to carry out market segmentation to identify effective ways to fascinate different audiences and attract loyal attendees. Additionally, target audience members should be aware of where their money is going towards when they commit to attending a music festival. R. Hudson and S. Hudson (2013) state, “Consumers are clearly turning to user-generated content to evaluate various festivals” (pg. 217). Coachella’s message board forum groups (Coachella, 2018g), along with Facebook discussion groups (Facebook, 2018f) are key examples of how the attendees are segmented by their questions, interests, and needs regarding the festival. Additionally, these online communities create a sense of belonging with the Coachella, which can attract loyal attendees. This is clear from the Facebook group bio stating, “Our main goal is here is to help the 1st timers meet & connect ravers from around the world going to Coachella making sure everyone has the best festival experience!” (Facebook, 2018e). This relates to Fullerton (2003) who stated, “Festival managers can design and implement visitor relationship management programs that will foster stronger, enduring festival commitment” (pg. 340). Coachella’s website provides an array of information between lodging, passes, music lineup, food, and experience/activities. This evidently segments its users based on age, income, dietary restrictions, and music preferences from the amount of options they provide. Attendees can buy a GA pass ($429) with the bare necessities or live in luxury with a VIP pass ($999) that gives them specialty access adjacent from the main stage and amenities like a full cash bar, restrooms (with no lines), and entry to the VIP rose garden (Coachella, 2018b). According to Holt (2018) popular music festivals, like Coachella, have generally become a popular vacation

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form for wider audiences than traditional die-hard festival fans or music nerds (para 15). This suggests that attendees who go to Coachella for its social space, are willing to pay more for the experience, versus hardcore music fans who may choose to buy the less fancy option and get a GA pass. Furthermore, this supports Fonseca and Ramos’ (2014) findings that the “music lovers” are looking to be stimulated and excited, while not paying a lot of money for their experience (pg. 12-13), whereas “the networkers” attend festivals for the socialization, and tend to spend more money on tickets, transportation, and accommodation/food (pg. 13-14). The advance sale option is a perfect way to gain loyal attendees. As Lee and Kyle (2014) suggest, “A loyalty program that emphasizes transactional relations can also be adopted to encourage repeat visits in the short term” (pg. 667). The payment plan ensures attendees have their pass long before the festival, and a small payment of $61 can be easy for people who have steady income to pay off over time. The pre-website page that is steering the viewer to social media is especially geared toward younger people who do not have the money at that moment, or individuals that want to learn more about the festival before making the commitment of buying a pass. People who do not have steady incomes can work for the money over the course of a few months, then pay it all at once. Facebook’s discussion group that has posts of people selling/looking to sell tickets are where people with lower incomes can resort to (Facebook, 2018f). Coachella’s lack of posting on social media in May through January interestingly takes place during the payment plan time where festival organizers are charging advanced sale ticket holders. Additionally, the lineup and sponsors are not announced until January when regular sales take place. This marketing strategy allows Coachella to use this timeframe to figure out sponsors, food vendors, and lineups that would best suit the audience who bought advanced sale

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passes, considering they are categorized as loyal attendees. The organizers are saving their extravagant social media posts while they collect all the payment plan revenue. This strategy also supports Leenders, Telgen, Gemser & Van der Wurff (2005) claim of content features and format features being determinants of festival success (pg. 150). When Coachella is posting on their social platforms, they offer a variety in market segmentation. Their throwback posts tagging past attendees (Instagram & Facebook, 2018e), #CoachellaClassics (Instagram & Facebook, 2018g), and short feature videos of attendee’s like @benmullinkossons’s (Instagram & Facebook, 2018c) plays on an attendee’s memory. Manthiou, Lee, Tang, and Chiang (2012) stated: Vividity of memory increases the attendees’ interest and produces more stable and enduring attitudes and actions in relationship to the festival. Festival planners are advised to create one or several extraordinary moments, which can help attendees generate clear and vivid “flash-like” memories (pg. 30). Coachella succeeds at creating short moments to remember with their Instagram “Highlights” (Instagram, 2018e) which can be viewed any time a user or past attendee is on their page. Holt (2018) believes “These video practices have come to define festival identities in particular ways...leaving user-generated videos with the function of enriching the festival experience at the micro-level of social network of individual participants” (para. 1). Conclusion Coachella has become a highly anticipated and successful music festival throughout the years, due to its successful marketing strategies and ability to attract a wide range of audience members. Festival organizers are able to create a community forum on its website and Facebook,

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build posts around creating vivid memories, and promoting an advanced sale option. All of these tactics are effective for gaining loyal attendees, which contributes to overall festival success. Once the music festival has secured loyal attendees, they are able to segment them based on their needs and desires for the festival. Forums and social media engagements help organizers collect information about attendees, which they use for considering content features such as scope of the audience, lineup, age, and theme/message. Coachella effectively segments their audiences and provides dream-like experiences, appealing to every taste and preference for music, food, activities, accommodations, and passes.

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