We are accustomed to the fact that every year in Russia there are festivals for every taste and budget.
Team Eventum Premo helps brands integrate into several events each season, but 2020 was an exception. What to expect from festivals this year? The agency team spoke with key representatives of the festival industry about their plans and readiness for events this year.
Despite the instability, almost all organizers claim that there will be festivals. But past experience has taught us that everything can change at the last moment, so the final decision will still depend on the local authorities.
Anastasia Podolskaya (brand director) and Natalya Zaripova (special projects manager), Esquire Weekend:
We plan to hold the festival, as usual, at the very beginning of summer. This year we want to hold the festival in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Krasnaya Polyana. Whether it will take place or not depends on the permission of the city authorities. As far as we know, large cities are now preparing for the resumption of mass events, and accordingly, we are also preparing.
Yuri Subbotin, development director at Faces&Laces:
We are actively working on an anniversary event - this year the Faces&Laces exhibition turns 15. Now we are waiting for official resolutions from the Moscow Government that would regulate the holding of mass events. However, we are confident that given the current positive dynamics in August, when we plan to hold the Faces&Laces exhibition, the event will definitely take place and we will be able to gather an audience.
Yulia Bychkova, managing partner of the Nikola-Lenivets art park and producer of the Archstoyanie festival of landscape objects, noted that the festival will definitely take place on the scheduled dates. “I hope nothing will affect it this year and there will be no cancellation or postponement,” she added.
Sergey Zhukovsky, general producer of the Locals Only festival:
We continue to prepare for the festival. Of course, we all face issues such as, for example, the third wave of COVID-19 and the ban on holding mass events. We, like any event organizer, are closely monitoring the situation with the pandemic and the restrictions associated with it.
There are currently no dangers for an outdoor event, but the mask regime must be observed, noted Yuri Kassin, founder and general producer of the Forma festival. “Active announcements will begin in early April, keep an eye out,” he added.
Boris Lazarev, official representative of the Exit festival in Russia (Collective Media Solutions agency):
The organizers closely monitor all external factors and constantly consult with government and health officials in Serbia. The optimism with which we look at the possibility of holding the festival is associated with the high rate of vaccination in Serbia: the country ranks third in Europe and seventh in the world in terms of the level of vaccinated population.
According to the plan, about 15% of the total population of Serbia will be vaccinated monthly, and according to expert research, almost 40% of the country’s residents already have antibodies to COVID-19, Lazarev added.
Irina Slovokhotina, director of work with commercial partners at Wild Mint and Neba:
Now we are actively preparing for festivals. We have already received official permits from the Government of the Tula Region for the Wild Mint festival and from the Government of the Moscow Region for Sky: Theory and Practice. But, of course, everyone is still monitoring the development of the situation.
Now the organizers of “Wild Mint” and “Sky” are in close communication with representatives of Rospotrebnadzor and are coordinating the necessary measures for holding the events, Slovokhotina added.
Innovations
We asked the festival organizers whether any innovations were planned - for example, a hybrid format - and whether it was necessary to maintain social distance, wear masks, and limit the number of tickets.
Kirill Sorokin, co-founder and program director of Beat Film Festival:
This year, Beat will take place at its usual venues throughout the city, and some event venues will return for special screenings like “Mutabor.” And at the same time, the festival will be online, since during the pandemic people have become accustomed to the fact that there is always such an option, and we, in addition to our shelf of the main hits on Kinopoisk, have recently launched the Qatar Film Days online project, online projects with Cartier and the Tsvetnoy department store and we see that the interest and audience for such online stories are huge. Moreover, unlike concerts, for example, this does not seem to be something artificial - people watched movies online even before the pandemic.
An important trend around which the organizers of the Beat Film Festival have been building strategies since last year is a conscious introduction into the digital space, mastering digital not only as a format, but also as a habitat for the audience. “We actively worked with Instagram bloggers, and this year, in addition to them, we plan to involve TikTokers; dialogue with the zoomer generation is important to us,” Sorokin noted.
Boris Lazarev, official representative of the Exit festival in Russia (Collective Media Solutions agency):
The safety of all our visitors, artists and staff is of course a priority and additional safety measures and technologies will be developed. Last year the festival organized a limited access event for the Life Stream online marathon, so there is confidence that the festival can be held with health and safety measures at the highest level.
As for “Archstoyanie,” the organizers are developing a new territory in the west of the park, noted Yulia Bychkova, producer of the festival. “It's always exciting. The entire festival program will be accessible to people with special needs,” she noted.
Yuri Kassin, founder and general producer of the Forma festival:
In addition to the mask regime, we will focus on ensuring that guests can not only have a great time, but also get to know each other, especially people with similar interests and a love of creativity. Special activities have been developed for this purpose. We are also introducing gamification into a person’s presence at the festival.
Innovations at Esquire Weekend will depend solely on the regulations for holding mass events, noted Anastasia Podolskaya and Natalya Zaripova.
Yuri Subbotin, development director at Faces&Laces:
We plan to conduct everything in the traditional offline format. There may be online broadcasts, but they will not be able to convey the special atmosphere of the event and immerse you in street culture in the same way as a physical presence. Of course, the exhibition will be held in compliance with all current conditions. But judging by the current trends in attending public events in Moscow, people are again ready to spend time at offline events, taking into account all the requirements.
Among the innovations at Faces&Laces, from mid-2020, when it became clear that the exhibition was being postponed to 2021, the organizers launched a series of multidisciplinary projects that precede the exhibition and are united with it by a single concept, Subbotin added. “We have already implemented the brainstorm show Plan B with Studio 21 with the support of MegaFon, launched an online game for a collaboration laptop for Asus, curated a virtual collection for PUMA and invited the audience to immerse themselves in the history of Faces&Laces and find artifacts in the Yula ad service.” So, in addition to the main event in August, we will have several more initiatives in the spring and summer,” concluded Subbotin.
Irina Slovokhotina, director of work with commercial partners at Wild Mint and Neba:
We plan to hold it in our traditional format and dates. The Sky Festival will take place on May 22-23 and will be the first sign of the 2021 festival season. “Wild Mint” will take place June 18-20.
Of course, during the events, all requirements and recommendations of Rospotrebnadzor will be met, Slovokhotina assured.
Yuri Kassin, founder and general producer of the Forma festival:
As before, we will create big shows with directors and musicians that will include music, video art and dance performances, but they will be in a completely new form. Particular attention will be paid to our planet and ecology.
We will create a platform where people can discover new musical and creative directions, Kassin noted.
Are brands ready for festivals?
Brands are definitely interested in the offline format, but they are assessing the risks, because everyone is aware of the possible difficulties, which is why few people now know for sure how exactly they will integrate into the festival.
Esquire Weekend is in dialogue with potential partner brands, and despite the instability, brands are interested in participating, believe Anastasia Podolskaya and Natalya Zaripova.
Yuri Subbotin, development director at Faces&Laces:
Despite the instability, we are at the stage of active negotiations with partners and are developing solutions for them. Through our creative studio, we come up with integration ideas for 90% of large commercial participants. It is extremely important for us that they are presented natively, but at the same time solve their problems. Right now we are developing more than 10 projects for different brands, both based on the main event and side stories.
Of course, some brands, especially those whose headquarters are located in other countries, have put all offline events on hold for now, Subbotin added. “We agreed with them to return to discussions by the end of spring in order to quickly come up with a creative solution for them and integrate them into the event,” concluded Subbotin.
Sergey Zhukovsky, general producer of the Locals Only festival:
Of course, we are constantly negotiating with various brands. In our opinion, both our audience and brands miss offline events and are studying any commercial offers with great interest, but are making decisions with caution.
“We are open to any negotiations and are ready to guarantee the fulfillment of our obligations,” Zhukovsky added.
Boris Lazarev, official representative of the Exit festival in Russia (Collective Media Solutions agency):
Brands, like the audience, miss offline, especially festivals. Being forced to go online cannot compensate for the emotions from interacting with a brand that can be obtained locally.
“It is these live sensations that will become simply priceless and more in demand than ever,” says Lazarev.
Yulia Bychkova, managing partner of the Nikola-Lenivets art park, producer of the Archstoyanie festival of landscape objects:
Every year we create beautiful collaborations with brands, and this year will be no exception. Despite the crisis caused by the pandemic, life does not stand still, and there are already a number of institutions and brands with which we are preparing integration.
“I can’t reveal their names yet,” Bychkova intrigued.
Yuri Kassin, founder and general producer of the Forma festival:
Brands are of great interest in the festival because it is unique in its own way and has many venues in various areas of art. First of all, we communicate with several alcohol partners, and we also see great interest from telecoms and banks. None of the brands are afraid of anything - on the contrary, everyone is ready to make interesting stories and make up for lost summer. If we talk about government agencies, there is already interest from several regional administrations that are ready to support us at the global level.
“If a partner is integrating into a festival, it is important that they become a conduit for their fans to explain why they want to go to the festival and why their brand values are important,” Kassin added.
Irina Slovokhotina, director of work with commercial partners at Wild Mint and Neba:
Of course, the pandemic has made its own adjustments; some potential partners do not yet know whether they will go offline at all. Many people have either had their budgets cut or frozen. However, the majority of regular partners confirmed their intentions to support our events. We are actively negotiating with new potential partners. Since February we have seen a significant increase in interest and an increase in requests among companies and agencies.
“I hope the trend will continue, and this summer we will be able to present interesting partnership collaborations,” noted Slovokhotina.
What to do with pent-up demand?
There is a fear that due to pent-up demand, many festivals will follow each other. It is important to understand how they plan to win the attention of the audience.
Anastasia Podolskaya (brand director) and Natalya Zaripova (special projects manager), Esquire Weekend:
First of all, Esquire Weekend is not a traditional music festival, it is a content event with iconic areas and participating heroes. Open dialogues, lectures, performances, readings, music, participation of the magazine’s heroes in the festival are unique content that is not provided by any of the festivals. This is why Esquire Weekend is so loved by the audience.
The central motive of the festival is an immersion into the world of the publication through the prism of a large festival special issue, in which every visitor can leave their mark, added Podolskaya and Zaripova.
Yuri Subbotin, development director at Faces&Laces:
We are not afraid that the audience will be torn and choose between us and music festivals. The key feature of the exhibition is its multidisciplinarity and diversity of content. The event brings together representatives of the musical underground, brands and independent creative units in one space. That is, we are not a music festival that competes with others only in its musical lineup. All key areas are equally important to us: music, art, fashion and sports, and our task is to present a certain cross-section of what is happening in the local industry.
“We are confident that our audience understands this and appreciates this approach, which is why we are not worried about competition,” added Subbotin.
Sergey Zhukovsky, general producer of the Locals Only festival:
We try to assess the situation from different angles and do our job efficiently. The Locals Only concept is a meeting place between music and sports, primarily extreme sports - surfing (the festival usually hosts wake and ski surfing competitions), as well as skateboarding and streetball contests. Therefore, our audience comes not only to listen to cool music, meet friends and have an interesting time, but also to support riders and athletes, and to see official extreme sports competitions!
Exit was supposed to celebrate its 20th anniversary last summer, but despite all efforts this did not happen, so in 2021 the organizers are determined to celebrate this important event, said Boris Lazarev, official representative of the Exit festival in Russia.
Yulia Bychkova, managing partner of the Nikola-Lenivets art park, producer of the Archstoyanie festival of landscape objects:
The Archstoyanie festival is a club-type festival. And we are very glad that our audience returns to us year after year. We will announce this year’s program very soon and hope that it will not only surprise regular visitors, but also attract new ones.
Co-founder and program director of the Beat Film Festival Kirill Sorokin does not believe that competition will affect the event in a negative way.
Kirill Sorokin, co-founder and program director of Beat Film Festival:
People are hungry for events where they can come, dress up, meet friends they haven't seen in ages, and maybe even hug. Our festival is largely about the values of an already large community, which numbers more than 40 thousand in Moscow alone. people, and we will do everything not to disappoint them.
The organizers of “Wild Mint” and “Sky” are not afraid of competition, noted Irina Slovokhotina. “This is a familiar situation for us, given that our festivals are traditionally held at the beginning of the season,” she added.
Yuri Kassin, founder and general producer of the Forma festival:
Some festivals collapsed, the coronavirus was a boost for them, but not the main one. Festivals that existed due to large imports or one major sponsor lose their identity and disappear at the semantic level. “Form” is a festival of premieres that we prepare ourselves. We have a large number of curators, ideological inspirers, and creative individuals who help create an experimental platform that includes various areas of art.
Thus, “Form” helps each visitor and country find their own identity, Kassin noted. “Therefore, there is no special struggle for the audience; our people understand perfectly well why they need Form,” he concluded.
Irina Slovokhotina, director of work with commercial partners at Wild Mint and Neba:
We are constantly looking for solutions to the pain of our target audience, offering ready-made scenarios for logistics and accommodation. Directly on the website you can buy a ticket to the festival, book accommodation and transfer. Such solutions allow you to build long-term relationships with the audience and grow loyalty among festival guests.
“We find the same solutions for partners that help fulfill their business tasks and build trusting communication with consumers at our event,” added Slovokhotina.
An international perspective on the industry
What is happening to the festival industry in the world? International experts believe that despite the heavy losses, the pandemic only benefited the industry.
Boris Lazarev, official representative of the Exit festival in Russia (Collective Media Solutions agency):
Before the pandemic, the festival industry was overheated for several reasons: a huge number of new festivals, high competition from both local and international projects, fabulous fees from headliners and the struggle for them, and even higher audience expectations. It was already clear that the market had to balance somehow, but no one expected it to happen so catastrophically.
The forced pause has dragged on, and it is already obvious that the strongest will survive, Lazarev noted. “Of course, there are cautious reasons to believe that in the post-pandemic era we will see a festival boom, but approaches and concepts will need to be rethought from scratch,” he is sure.
Conclusions
- Despite the instability, there will be festivals. Both organizers and brands are hoping for the best and are already preparing for a full offline event. But experience shows that you still need to be prepared for any changes.
- Many festivals are actively integrating into the digital space. Moreover, this can be not only online broadcasts from offline events, but also digital activities - the interest in such stories from the audience is huge.
- The organizers are not afraid of pent-up demand. There has long been a transition from quantity to quality, so festival organizers are firmly confident in the loyalty of their audience due to original concepts, “own” meanings and long-term planning.
- Festivals create their own creative studios that help integrate brands. Thus, it is up to festivals to help brands and agencies develop the most relevant content to suit their culture and community.
- We are seeing a trend towards scaling festivals to regions, because many brands also need and important this audience. These could be, for example, regional public talks or digital special projects.
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