23E62000 Arts in Consumer Culture

Elina Blomqvist, Emilia Aikio, Hanna Laine, Milla Louhelainen & Ulla Pellinen

AUDIENCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

FLOW FESTIVAL

(PHOTOSHOW + MUSIC)

ABOUT FLOW FESTIVAL

• Art and music festival

• The father of the festival was Nuspirit Helsinki

• Festival for themselves

• The first Flow festival on August 20th - 21st 2004 at Makasiinit in Helsinki

• In 2006 the festival was arranged in courtyard of Kuudes Linja, Hakaniemi

• 10th Flow Festival will be arranged 7.-11.8.2013 in the present venue place in Suvilahti

ABOUT FLOW FESTIVAL

FLOW IS MORE

"Flow is both mental and physical state of being, where feeling flows collectively through music into larger entity.“

• music

• arts & visuality

• fashion

• culinary experience

• people

FLOW IS MORE

music

arts & visuality fashion culinary experience

people

(PHOTOSHOW + MUSIC)

MUSIC “FLOW HAS FILLED A MUSICAL VOID.” (JORI HULKKONEN, DJ)

• strong and varied selection of up and coming and established artists

• it could be everything from indie-rock to soul and jazz, hiphop and r'n'b

• it’s from folk to contemporary club sound from the Finland and abroad

• music is the big thing but not the only one

Some artists (in 2012): Lineup for 2013 (couple of examples): Bon Iver (US) The Knife (SWE) AraabMuzik (US) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (AU) Yann Tiersen (FRA) Solange (US) Orchestra of Spheres (NZ) Mykki Blanco (US) Karri Koira (FI)

ARTS & VISUALITY "WE ALWAYS TRY TO CREATE NEW EXPERIENCES, BUILDING ON EXISTING VISUAL ELEMENTS." (JAANA SARASTE, SET DRESSER)

• Ambitiously and generously decorated festival area; the festival wants to surprise its visitors every year

• Visual identity of 2013 by Creative Agency TSTO:

“Question, doubt, revelation; like an answer to a riddle of some mysterious sphinx – emotion, Emotion! Like a dream carved in stone, a lover’s sweet embrace, a heart that’s pounding, from the wuthering heights to the depths of the Mariana Trench, a swinging spirit roars. From Malattia dei sentimenti to Ultima Dulce, the visual identity of Flow Festival 2013 takes it’s inspiration from the flickering of consciousness, it’s repressions and outbursts.”

• Visual arts like graffitis and installations part of the festival

• Lighting both during the gigs and round the area carefully planned

• Movies and documents

FASHION "THE HELSINKI FASHION WEEK, I MEAN FLOW FESTIVAL" (JOANNA, FASHION BLOGGER)

• People want to make an appearance

• Bloggers write about the clothes and style of the visitors

• Flow-hipsters / Flow-clothing crisis

• Consumer-to-consumer communication (Prahalad & Ramaswamy 2004a)

"When you're facing a massive social stenosis where you run into an incredible amount of former, present and future loves and friends, you want to look good." (Roosa, Fashion blogger)

CULINARY EXPERIENCE "FLOW IS MORE THAN A TOWN, IT'S HELSINKI.” (FRENCH FILMS)

• The organizers invite some of their favorite Helsinki restaurants to join the crew

• The aim is to have a variety of quality festival cuisine

• In previous years, the festival restaurants have included e.g. Groteski, Sis. Deli, Juuri, Fredan Tori, Ben&Jerry’s, and Tamarin

PEOPLE

"I THINK THE AUDIENCE INSPIRITS ITSELF“

(TONI RANTANEN, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR)

• The people make the festival into what it is.

• Key ingredients are collectivity and interaction.

• Organizers create the setting - customers create the

atmosphere: “win-win”

• Key stakeholders

• Organizers

• Partners and supporters

• Audience

MAIN REASONS TO VISIT FLOW

(1) Flow festival as a whole (2) Good overall atmosphere (3) Central location (4) Certain artist / artists (5) Social factors; friends (6) Tradition (Hulkkonen 2012.)

CUSTOMER GROUPS

Group Festival's offering

Festival Consumers A festival that lives up to consumers' expectations.

Experience Seekers A unique atmosphere and a festival that surprises every year.

Townspeople An urban festival at a central and reachable location.

Music Connoisseurs Artists people want to see and also artists they don't know about yet.

Socials A social event which supports the aspect of hanging out on a festival instead of just listening to the music.

Regulars An evolving festival that offers something new every year, but also stays true to the original idea of Flow. An event that engages the regulars in the process of co-creation.

AUDIENCE MANAGEMENT

• Keyword: effective communication

• Dialogue with the audience

• Personalized interaction

• Social media has a crucial role in the interaction

• The audience also expects to be listened to

• Other communication channels

• Website, Flow Magazine

AUDIENCE MANAGEMENT: CHALLENGES

• How to profit from the expertise of "regulars"

• How to engage customers to the communication democratically

• How to inform the audience on all offerings

• How to avoid out-growing its limits

• How to continue creating novel experiences each year

Solution: Co-creation of experiences ? (Prahalad & Ramaswamy 2004a, 2004b)

AUDIENCE MANAGEMENT: SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS • "Experience is the brand. The brand is co-created and evolves with experiences.“

(Prahalad & Ramaswamy 2004b.) – What's the main objective of the event? – The customers should be given a proper way to influence

Dialogue Transparency Access Risk / Benefit

What Flow should do

– Taking advantage of various communication channels; allocated information to different customer groups.

–Transparent pricing policy – Information on partners.

– Easily accessible information. – Simple tools with which the customer can be a part of decision making process.

– Implemented dialogue, transparency and access. – Taking responsibility as an organizer; consumers need to be heard, but as a service provider the organizer have the final word.

How the consumer benefits

Getting all information needed. Dialogue makes the consumer part of making of the festival.

Consumer can understand the choices made.

Consumer feels that she is respected and an equal component in the value making process.

Consumers can judge the event competently and are more satisfied with the event.

THANK YOU!

REFERENCES • Hulkkonen, Susanna (2012): Kävijöiden osallistaminen Flow Festivalin viestintään. Thesis,

Department of Cultural Production, Humak University of Applied Sciences.

• Nokia Corporation (2011): "Flow Festival - The Documentary". Available at: http://www.flowfestival.com/en/news/. Cited 8.2.2013.

• Official Flow Festival 2013 website (8.2.2013). Available at: http://www.flowfestival.com/en/. Cited 8.2.2013.

• Official Flow Festival 2012 website. Available at: http://www.flowfestival.com/site2012/. Cited 8.2.2013.

• Prahalad, C.K. and Ramaswamy, Venkat (2004a): Co-creating unique value with customers. Strategy & Leadership, 32 (3), 4-9.

• Prahalad, C.K. and Ramaswamy, Venkat (2004b): Co-creation Experiences: The Next Practice in Value Creation. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 18 (3), 5-14.

• Various blogs, f.ex:

• Muuttolintuja syksyllä. Helsingin muotiviikko, tai siis flow festarit. Available at: http://muuttolintujasyksylla.indiedays.com. 10.2.2013.

• Mini-malen. Flow-vaatekriisi. Available at: http://www.lily.fi/juttu/flow-vaatekriisi. 10.2.2013.

• Photos:

• http://pinterest.com/flowfestival

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/flowfestival