Back to university again...
It was a final project time and we could choose any topic, brand, agency, etc. and create an integrated communications campaign. I chose to promote one of the most popular and the biggest music and art festivals in Lithuania as in 2016, due to some financial issues the festival was cancelled three days before it had to happen. Therefore, the target audience was thinking that they lost the biggest festival in their country and the majority believed that the event will not be held in 2017. In order to change the negative perception of the festival, I wanted the audience see that Karkle is not only ‘coming back’ for 2017 but is more than ready to entertain the festival-goers and show the passion, as well as, love for them even before the actual festival.
I felt that it would be in the best interest of Karkle Live Music Beach festival to implement various strategies of integrated communication campaign in order to appeal to the young generation of music lovers and festival-goers. With all the issues and scandals that the festival had in the past it seemed challenging. However, as I did researches on the demographics, I believed that the right communication strategies might change the attitudes towards the event.
Getting a trust back may be a challenge, especially when it has to be done in a short period of time, almost right before the event. On the other hand, since people consider which festivals to go to during spring and beginning of summer, it also could be an advantage for the festival as the message of campaign will be fresh in people’s minds and it might be a reason of their decision to choose Karkle Live Music Beach.
I was confident that with the right methods of action, Karkle Live Music Beach had a chance to rebuild its image and be listed as one of the best festivals in Lithuania, as well as Europe. My priority was to make sure that after this campaign, the perception of the festival will change and people will choose it over competitors.
The BIG IDEA:
The union of three: Reunited band, Union of music lovers, Union of creative audience.
Quote from the report:
'The campaign is called United Forces as it will unite three different forces in two months time. First of all, a well-known Lithuanian band Glasshous, whose songs are played on the radio and the members are known for playing in various Lithuanian music festivals, will reunite for one particular purpose - sing the festival’s anthem. Glasshous is a young collective based on three artists sharing concept of electronica/dance/jazz music, which are popular genres among younger generation nowadays. Unfortunately, they split up about a year ago, which will make the reunion for only one particular song even more unexpected and will get media’s attention. The lyrics will be written by Edgar Koldaras since he is a songwriter in the band and music will be composed by all the members. The price of the anthem is not included in the budget as our agency has been working with Glasshous for a long time and they agreed to do it complimentary. Secondly, the campaign will unite our audience as people will put their creativity skills together in order to create a TV ad that will show the positive aspects of Karkle Live Music Beach, which will be discussed further down. Furthermore, we will have a free concert at the end of the campaign, which will also be discussed further down. The event will unite all the music lovers and artists for one day and show the audience that they are people we care about the most'.
The whole creative idea was put into PR and advertising strategies that included billboard ads, online marketing, commercial, press conference, press releases, TV shows and a massive summer concert to create a buzz.
Every detail was thought through - starting from the media list, timeline, budget and all the issues that might come along, including competitors' campaigns and lack of support.
Since it was just a pitch I also had the whole strategy of how I would evaluate the success of the campaign.
The project was a success and received positive attention from the industry experts.