Explain how special events are defined and classified

The first Glastonbury Festival (Pilton Festival as it was known) started in 1970 and attracted 1500 attendees. Since then the festival has gained popularity worldwide and the number of attendees has only gone up each year. By 2015 the festival had attracted almost 200,000 participants and performance stages graced by over 2000 artist who keep the guest entertained (Glastonbury Festival, 2017). The aim of the festival is encourage and stimulate youth culture in all forms from around the world. It also promotes environment friendly technologies and practices by setting aside ‘Green’ areas. It also offers a market place for sale of high quality goods. The company promotes humanitarian activities by collaborating and supporting humanitarian organizations (Glastonbury Festival, 2017). In this report, a SWOT analysis of Glastonbury Festivals as well as marketing strategies for the company will be discussed.

Special events are organized ceremonies that are unique and infrequent targeting a specific audience. The events take place for a specified period to achieve the expected result. Aspects that bring differentiate as well as bring together the perspective that define special events are ties to the origin of the event. Ceremonies and rituals are used to represent the common point of managerial, touristic and anthropological perspectives of special events (Mihaela-Oana 2012).

Special events are classified in terms of size and scale, form and function as well as the sector of the function. According to Goldblatt (2007) major and minor events fall under the category of size and scale classification, whereas the form and function classification emphasis’ on what the event is about and the magnitude. For example a large sporting event.  The sector classification identifies the market segment in which the function belongs for example corporate event.

Figure1. Classification of special events

SWOT analysis is a tool used to understand strengths and weakness of an organization as well as identify opportunities and threats that face the business to help curve sustainable niche in market (Oreski 2012). Glastonbury Festivals major strength is the wide audience the event receives locally and internationally. The number of participants at the event keeps on increasing, making the event very popular, therefore reducing the need of investing so much on diverse marketing strategies as the customers effectively market the event.

However, the event has weaknesses like the overreliance on volunteers in organizing and running the event. If for some reason people fail to volunteer in large numbers, the success of the festival can be greatly undermined. The event also offers an open ground for drug and substance abuse endangering the lives of participants as well as exposing minors attending the events to the vice. This can affect the future festivals negatively as people may shun the event because of the unregulated drug and substance use.

The event offers an opportunity for marketing local products to a large population. The increased media coverage of the function opens new doors of marketing the event to new and wider markets. However, poor waste management threatens the impact of the event during the festival. Many waste materials are dumped around the town during the festival polluting the local environment. This could lead to environmentalist blocking the event in future.

SWOT Analysis of the scope and impact of marketing and events for the organizing body of Glastonbury Festivals

Figure2. Glastonbury Festival SWOT analysis

1. The role of marketing mix (4P’s/7P’s) in developing an event marketing strategy and how is this applied in the case of the Glastonbury Festival

Marketing mix is important in designing and implementing the marketing strategies as it helps in determining the most appropriate marketing strategy for different products and markets. Marketing mix is made of 4P’s: products, price, place and promotion.

The product is describes the goods or services on offer. The design of the product must be unique and acceptable to the target consumers for it to translate into sales (Preston 2012). The product must also be of high quality to offer customer satisfaction. Glastonbury Festival offers entertainment services to the customers. Since the festival aims to celebrate the local culture and promote local economy, the product design is unique and of high quality, the high number of participants in the festival can confirm that each year.

The price is the product value that is expressed in monetary terms (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick 2012). Price is determined by factors like demand and supply, competition, cost of production and nature of business. Consumers buy products that are within their perceived price value therefore the mentioned factors must be observed when developing a pricing policy. Glastonbury pricing seems to be very friendly and affordable to the target consumers as the tickets for the festival sell out long before the event take place. For instance the tickets for 2017 June festival are already sold out (Glastonbury Festival, 2017).

Promotion is the medium by which marketers communicate to potential and existing customers (Middleton, et al 2009). It can be personal selling, sales promotions, trade fairs or public relations. The medium chosen depends on the product on offer. Glastonbury Festival utilizes personal selling of their existing customers, social media as well as press coverage to market the events to new markets.

In marketing mix place is the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer. It is affected by factors like transport, inventory, warehousing, physical distribution and distribution channels. Glastonbury Festival offers a short distribution channel as consumers enjoy the services directly from the place of production. This is made possible by the presence of adequate transportation systems that help the consumers to get to the festival location.

Segmentation

Market segmentation is a process of improving precision marketing of a company by determining the group of consumers a company is best equipped to serve with their goods and services (Preston 2012). To increase its market share, Glastonbury Festivals Ltd will need to consider segmenting its market further in terms of demographics (age and income levels). According to (Ginn 2011) most of the festival attendees are aged between 25 and 38 years. Considering this categories of participants are young family men and women, Glastonbury Festivals can further segment their market to offer products suited for children of all ages. This would encourage people to attend the festival with families. To take care of this the company should involve participants in children entertainment to create children fields suitable for children of different ages.

Targeting and Positioning

Targeting involves choosing a segment that a marketer can best satisfy. A segment is made of individuals who share common characteristics (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick 2012). Glastonbury Festivals can target young children best if they target families. The company can also benefit by segmenting the customers by their income to help create products for different income levels. This would in turn appeal to a larger population.

Explain the role the marketing mix plays in developing an event marketing strategy and how is this applied in the case of the Glastonbury Festival

To implement the strategies for gaining or expanding markets Glastonbury Festivals should include service providers offering diverse products like family entertainment and children entertainment (Middleton, et al 2009) . The company should offer ticket customized for diverse income levels. For example VIP tickets, regular tickets and economy tickets that would allow participants to access different levels of products on offer.

Monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation is the continuous assessment of the activities to ensure that everything is happening according to plan and determine any necessary changes or improvements for controlled outcome (Bowdin, et al 2006). Glastonbury should carry out this exercise through careful observation of all activities and collecting customer feedback from the participants. Therefore the company should delegate these duties to a dedicated team that will work to ensure accurate data is collected and corrective measures taken to make customer experience better in the next festival. To collect this data, participants can be encouraged to give suggestions, opinions and feedback through surveys or by conducting random follow-up phone calls to participants to enquire of their experience at the festival.

Risk management

Glastonbury Festival is an event that attracts tens of thousands of participants each year, therefore making risk management a major concern for the event organizers. The risk faced during the event is enormous thus serious risk management measures must be adopted. To guarantee the safety of the participants Glastonbury Festival limited must work hand in hand with bodies like the police in stewarding and crime reduction, fire safety, crowd management, traffic management and medical departments to help mitigate the risk during the event (Mendip District Council).

Conclusion

Special events are unique infrequent occasions that target a specific audience and last for a specified time.  Glastonbury festival is a world-renowned festival that attracts people from different parts of the world. The event enjoys huge participation that reduces the efforts of the company to conduct marketing drives. To develop a good marketing strategy marketing mix should be used. Glastonbury should consider segmenting its market further to increase its target market and adopt proper positioning strategies. Further, it is important to monitor and evaluate the events to give room for improvement. Risk management strategies are important in ensuring safety to festival participants.

References 

Bowdin, G., O’Toole, W., Allen, J., Harris, R. and McDonnell, I., 2006. Events management. Routledge.

Ginn, S., 2011. If the age of the artists at Glastonbury Festival continues to increase, will the demographic profile of the audience age with it? (Doctoral dissertation, Cardiff Metropolitan University).

Glastonbury Festival (2017) History, Glastonbury Festivals Ltd Available at Accessed: 22/12/2016. www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/history/history-/ 

Goldblatt, J.J., 2007. Special Events: The Roots and Wings of Celebration (Vol. 5). John Wiley & Sons, Inc..

Jobber, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2012. Principles and practice of marketing (No. 7th). McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Mendip District Council. Glastonbury Festival Summary Report 2014.  Accessed on 14 March  2017 www.mendip.gov.uk/CHttpHandler/  

Middleton, V.T., Fyall, A., Morgan, M. and Ranchhod, A., 2009. Marketing in travel and tourism. Routledge.

Mihaela-Oana, ?., 2012.  Major Special Events:An Interpretative Literature Review. Management & Marketing Challenges for the Knowledge Society Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 759-776

Oreski, D., 2012. Strategy development by using SWOT–AHP. Tem Journal, 1(4), pp.283-291.

Preston. C.A., 2012. Event Marketing. 2^nd Edn. New Jersey, Wiley.