Bill McFarland and Ja Rule had their mind set on cementing their place in entertainment history.
Creating a once-in-a-lifetime musical experience on an exotic island.
The Fyre festival was going to be the most luxurious music festival to date — featuring top performers, celebrity chefs, and accommodation worthy of prince and princesses.
Of course none of that happened.
The festival did not take place by a long shot. In fact, it’s an understatement to call it a complete failure. A disaster of epic proportion.
Fingers were pointed squarely at Billy McFarland and Ja Rule for the disaster — rightfully so.
It was a marketing phenomenon
The build up to the event was noteworthy. Their marketing efforts tapped into the right tactics.
They invested heavily in social media and shock marketing. They recruited top models and big name stars and social media powerhouses like Kendall Jenner and supermodel Bella Hadid to reach everyone — practically millions of people.
This is important, and I will explain why later in this article. Remember this part, it will make sense.
Within hours and days, the Fyre Festival dominated social feeds. Their influencer strategy worked extremely well. It was driving the awareness that would boost anyone’s ego — especially Billy McFarland’s and Ja Rule’s.
Based on the sheer reach in numbers, I would even call their awareness campaign a mega success.
Blinded by hubris
As more issues unfolded right in front of their faces, Billy McFarland and Ja Rule were either oblivious to reality, fueled by too much ego, or just straight crazy people.
Ah yes. They were all of the above. Hubris. Narcissistic individuals who thought they were heaven’s gift to men.
Alas, their madness drove them to the pit of doom.
Don’t take my word for it. Watch the documentary for yourself on Netflix or Hulu. Draw your own conclusions about the delusional duo.
In this article, I will dissect specifics of why I think brought this even to its knees — beyond what you’ll see in the documentary.
Fyre Festival failed because of these things
Not led by real leaders
As a society, we’ve beaten the “boss vs leader” comparison to a pulp. And if there’s anything left of it, we’ve beaten that down too.
As cliche as it is, neither Billy McFarland or Ja Rule demonstrated an ability to lead.
They do know how to have a good time and party though!
Cheers!!!! Let’s party all day guys!
I don’t think either one of them realized the magnitude and seriousness of the event.
They acted like seasoned music festival veterans, when in fact, they and their entire team had zero experience to take this on.
All anyone needed to do is take step back and will realize Billy and Ja were not leading by example — the total opposite actually.
It’s critical in business.
If you’re taking on unfamiliar projects and putting everything on the line, then cast your immaturity aside, put on your big boy pants, and lead with resolve.
Basically, my friends, if you find yourself in similar situations, you have two perfect examples of what NOT TO DO!
Inexperience
One is a singer / performer and the other is an internet entrepreneur.
Neither one of them have exactly planned a festival before, much less a luxury one.
I will go as far to say that the closest “event” Billy and Ja Rule have personally planned is probably a boy’s night out at some fancy club with bottle service.
I’m not a hater. But I do hate it when posers abuse their status as justification for stupidity and lack of accountability.
Billy and Ja Rule should have listened and heeded the advice of people around them — and possibly bring in more experienced festival veterans AND listen.
But it’s asking too much for characters like Billy and Ja Rule — since they like hearing their own voices.
When you mix inexperience with hubris, there is no chance of success.
It was extremely tragic that so many people lost so much because of two inexperience people who wanted to play god.
Focus on the buzz, not the attendees
Let’s take a look at the results the marketing achieved.
Social media influencers with millions of followers were paid to posts on their profile.
Tens of thousands of likes.
Over half a million likes when Bella Hadid posted this picture to promote the festival.
Over 7.5 million views when Kendall Jenner posted it to her Instagram profile.
These are larger numbers for any campaign. And in most circles considered a huge success — a well executed social media campaign.
This is where I ask the burning question.
“Who is the audience for Fyre festival?”
I am sure it was thrilling to see their social media influencers reached so many people, but really, who did they really want to attend the festival?
This is an epidemic in our industry. Brands care so much about how many people they reach, they lose sight of the relevance of reach.
The Fyre Festival ticket starts at $1,000 — a high ticket item and out of the range of most people following these social media influencers.
While the intent was to get as many people as possible to talk about the festival, this shotgun approach did not focus on the target audience — the people who had the REAL money to attend this extravagant event.
The broad reach created buzz that may have an adverse effect on the festival. Why?
Because most people can put this on their credit card, especially if there’s a promise to meet and hang out with celebrities, super models, and artists.
I’m not saying the right targeting would have solved any problems, but it opened the festival to a very mixed crowd.
Social media is the biggest lie ever told
It is too easy to become someone you are not on social media.
It’s even easier, with creative editing, to promote a festival.
Unfortunately, millions of people believe everything they see on Facebook or Instagram — it’s mind blowing how much foothold social media has on society.
The success of Fyre’s social media campaign was driven by the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) in its audience. And the lie worked!
Once the cat was out of the bag, as on-site photos and videos were leaked, ticket owners starting questioning many things.
However, the lies continued. It was too easy for the social media team to continue spinning the event.
The power of social media is dangerous in the wrong hands
The Fyre social media team managed to cover up the disaster from the Bahamas through its social media page.
In their defense, it may have been Billy McFarland who was calling the shots — with a “do whatever it takes” directive.
Of course, it wasn’t until the festival goers arrived that they received the harsh truth.
Social Media 1 – Festival-Goer 0
My friends, truth is, anyone can screw up their social media and abuse it’s reach and influence.
Fyre isn’t the only failure nor will it be the last story we’ll hear about the lies told through social media.
As brands rely on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to build awareness and followers, they must be held accountable.
It’s a social world
We have reached a tipping point in social media and brand marketing.
Believe it not, the brand has lost much of its control — the followers through the power of social media have a voice, and it’s getting louder and louder.
It is inevitable that brands must understand and accept total accountability of the content they put out.
Lacking cohesiveness between all parties
It takes flawless coordination to launch a project. But it’s a HUGE deal to make sure every team is marching to the same beat.
It’s true. The documentary is biased to highlight every disastrous aspect of the event — from planning to execution.
But what is evident is the lack of cohesiveness, communication, and collaboration across teams.
As far as the social media influencers are concerned, they have done their job. However, I feel the influencers were not given specific directions and full integrated into the plan.
Brands tend to treat social media influencers as assets instead of an extension of their team.
In true partnership, I believe influencers should be part of the planning process to provide a seamless experience for the audience.
Logistics is not child’s play
Building the buzz and selling out tickets is an accomplishment — no argument there.
In fact, from a social media perspective, this was a campaign that was almost perfect. But, in the grand scheme of things, that was merely part of the puzzle.
That’s not what a festival is all about. Is it?
Coordinating the logistics for a luxury event is not for amateurs. Billy and Ja couldn’t have stack more odds against themselves — from location and transportation to sanitation and lodging.
Practically a deceit. Misrepresentation of the festival in all social media campaigns was rampant.
The lack of infrastructural consideration and planning put the nail in the coffin for the festival.
Speaking of logistics, I experienced this myself two weeks ago. A marketing expo called me up and wanted Fullmoon Digital to exhibit this year.
As excited as I was, I realized, after a day or two that logistically we were not ready to participate. Our team has no experience building a booth, we have no exhibit assets, etc.
With that in mind, if I had decided to proceed — to satisfy my vanity of having a booth at a marketing expo, we would most likely fall flat and wasted my team’s time.
It is IMPORTANT to deliver on what you promise
This serves as a reminder to marketers and brands — the promises and claims made in all advertising must be aligned and delivered.
Such a simple concept. Right?
Fyre’s deception was at an epic scale. But there are businesses today that still fail to deliver as advertised.
In March 2018, he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud to defraud investors and a second count to defraud a ticket vendor. On October 11, 2018, McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to forfeit US $26 million.
Conclusion
Social media influencers can boost awareness, traffic, build buzz, and reach millions of people online.
But they are still only part of the entire strategy.
I wrote this article to hopefully add value to brands who think they can rely entirely on social media campaigns to drive the business.
The entire experience must align for a successful social media campaign to be considered a real win.
Too many businesses spend money on influencers, and complain when they don’t see the desired outcome in revenue.
What are your thoughts on the Fyre Festival?
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyre_Festival
