Millennials Love Festivals, Special Events…and Life!

In 1984, the German new wave group, Alphaville, dropped the pop culture standard titled “Forever Young”.

The somewhat foreboding song talks about living in the moment. Living life without ever taking tomorrow for granted, because so much is out of our control, that there’s really no guarantee of a tomorrow.

Let’s dance in style, let’s dance for a while
Heaven can wait, we’re only watching the skies
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst
Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?

Brands and businesses seeking to court the Millennial market would be wise to understand this mindset. This demo wants nothing to do with traditional commercial messages. They want to be entertained and they want to commune.

Nothing brings them together more than special events and festivals. But traditional sponsorships are a waste of time and money. Participating in a lifestyle event provides a brand with an amazing opportunity to communicate with this group.

“Events are at the center of these experiences and millennial social life, so investing in this channel is important”..- Christine Bohle, head of consumer partnerships for Eventbrite.

The key being “communicate”…not shout messages and interfere with their experience.

In a recent study by Eventbrite, they found that when millennials come upon something that they like, they just don’t socially share it, but they also are more likely to spend money.

What many marketers don’t understand is that festivals remain the biggest magnet for audiences of all age groups but they particularly attract millennials. EDM concerts, major pop festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza, and huge country music events like Stagecoach are marketing goldmines for brands who know how to draw the appeal of this market segment. After all, music and sports are the top topics on social media so it does make sense.

Success is realized by not pushing a marketing message but rather by creating unique, memorable, and exclusive lifestyle enhancing experiences. It also helps if you can convey a message of actually caring about what they care about.

It’s so hard to get old without a cause
I don’t want to perish like a fading horse
Youth’s like diamonds in the sun
And diamonds are forever

What may seem like quite the Bohemian attitude is actually a lifestyle that caters to a sense of awareness, of consciousness, of mindfulness as being in the present allows one to live life to the fullest, enjoying good times with family and friends.

You may not agree with this lifestyle choice and it may not be how you choose to live your life, but if you want to understand the mindset of millennials and reach them, you’d better get comfortable with it quickly.

This generation doesn’t really care about owning a car, they’re not in a rush to get married and owning a home would be nice…sometime down the road…maybe.

But this “in the moment” way of living doesn’t mean that they aren’t a viable consumer. Actually much to the contrary.

According to the Eventbrite study, over 40% of millennials will pay more for exclusivity and the red carpet treatment. We’ve seen this with the amazing prices being paid for VIP access to special events.

50% of millennials are willing to spend $50 or more for a festival with only 3% saying that free admission is any real enticement.

Think about that. Millennials are a group that would rather pay more to be treated special than be given something for free. This is a segment of our population that doesn’t want to leave this planet with any regrets!

So many adventures couldn’t happen today
So many songs we forgot to play
So many dreams swinging out of the blue
We let them come true

What happens at an event, doesn’t necessarily stay at the event. Sorry Vegas! 60+% of millennials surveyed by Eventbrite said that if a brand makes a positive impact, they are more likely to purchase the product. And 82% said that they’d frequent a retailer.

When you think about it, isn’t impacting lives a much more powerful message than blasting a commercial message? I wish brands took the time to care and enhance my life when I was growing up. But then again, maybe that’s the problem.

Growing up sucks. Let’s admit it. If we had the choice to do it over, how many of us would have delayed the inevitable and simply chose to live life in the moment?

Let us die young or let us live forever
We don’t have the power but we never say never
Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip
The music’s for the sad men

We all grow up and age, but in the interim, millennials want to ride this thing called life until the wheels fall off. Brands that want to do business with them should think less business and more fun.