Mervi Luonila

Creating a Stir: The role of Word of Mouth in Reputation Management in the Context of Festivals

ABSTRACT This qualitative case study examines the role of word of mouth (WOM) in reputation management in the context of networked festival productions. Particularly, it explores the ways in which WOM marketing (WOMM) is employed in festival marketing and brand-building. The paper links reputation and WOM to the concept of cultural branding with the aim of providing a framework for analysing how a festivals reputation shapes the creation of a culturally meaningful message. The empirical analysis is based on a multiple-case study involving three Finnish festivals hosted in the city of Pori: the Porispere Festival, the International Pori Jazz Festival and the International Lain§uojattomat Theatre Festival. The cases represent festivals of different sizes and varying organisational structure, content and life cycle. The findings indicate that the meaning and use of WOMM vary depending on key constitutive differences that affect the nature of the festivals’ reputation and brand-building processes. Although the importance of external and internal stakeholders in these processes is evident, it seems that when the power of networks is recognised as crucial for festivals, WOM has a leveraging role in reputation management and brand-building. In these processes, the value of the festival leaders persona becomes crucial.

The role of festivals and events in the regional development of cities: cases of two Finnish cities.

This article examines the role of festivals and cultural events in regional development from a discursive perspective. The particular focus is on the meanings attached to their importance and potential in both the discourses of public strategy documents and the views of festival managers. The empirical analyses cover two Finnish regions: Pori and Seinajoki. The article further enhances understanding of festival management in identifying discourses in regional strategy making. This knowledge will help festival and event organizers to cope with external stakeholders and their varying demands, which could support the longevity of their event. Public authorities, on the other hand, will be able to use the analytical information on festival production in their decision making with regard to regional strategy development.

Segmentation of music festival attendees

ABSTRACT Festivals have seen a surge in both size and numbers leading to a more business-oriented festival management. Thus, knowledge regarding the audiences and consumption of festivals deserve more attention, and monetary properties such as ticket sales and partnerships have become focal points in festival management. All these aims can be achieved by market segmentation. Festival Barometer is a longitudinal survey focused on the audiences of the largest Finnish rhythm music festivals. Using 7797 answers from the years 2014 and 2016, the audience was segmented using personal music preferences into groups named: hedonistic dance crowd, loyal heavy tribe and highly-educated omnivores. The members of the loyal heavy tribe are the most confident about their future participation in festivals. The hedonistic dance crowd love to have fun, and highly-educated omnivores see festivals’ values important for them. However, music preferences might not necessarily indicate the respondent’s actual taste but rather the referential group that best reflects the festivalgoer’s own identity. Additionally, the meaning of the music is highest in the youngest age group and it will be replaced with other priorities as the person gets older. This indicates that the music festival organisers are forced to attract constantly a new younger audience.