Overview of the Upcoming Glastonbury Festival in Lagos, Nigeria
Glastonbury Festival is an annual performance event in Somerset, England that includes music performance, circus, dance, drama and others. The main objective of the organization that hosts the festival is to donate all the profit raised from the festival to charities around the country. This time, the organization will host a festival in Lagos, Nigeria not only for the purpose of entertainment and marketing but also donate significant amount of the profits for the welfare of the Nigerian people with limited resources and means.
Before this festival, there has been a very few number of international music concerts and festivals held in Nigeria and hence, it will be a pioneer in the hosting of international festival in the country.
This will be the first British venture in Nigeria for music festivals and it is expected to be participated by internationally reputed performers in music, arts, dance and others. In Somerset each year, the event is attended by a huge host of performers as well as around 175,000-200,000 spectators. However, hosting a festival of such a size will not be possible in Nigeria due to lack of sufficient area as well as security concerns (Jones and Jones 2014). As a result, the size of the festival will be reduced and sufficient space will be provided for around 50,000 spectators. In addition to the performances and concerts, temporary accommodations in field tents will be provided to the spectators along optional food and drinks. Keeping aside a small amount of profit, a major amount will be donated for the welfare of Nigerians especially targeted towards the high amount of poverty and epidemic proneness.
In addition to performances of internationally acclaimed performers, there will be performances from various native groups as well, which help to promote their culture in front
When Glastonbury Festival was hosted for the first time, there was no parent organization present. A Somerset farmer started the event on his own initiative in 1970 under the name Pilton Festival. However, as the event gradually started gaining more and more spectators every year, it was no longer possible for a single man to handle the entire event. Hence, he set up the Glastonbury Festivals Ltd. along with his wife and this organization runs the festival till date.
Currently, Glastonbury Festivals Ltd. is partnered by Festival Republic who has bought 40% share of the Glastonbury Festival event. During the event, several companies are signed as minor partners for different areas of the event like hospitality, food, bar, musical instruments, security personnel, event volunteers and others.
Background and History of Glastonbury Festival
In the Nigeria event, most of these minor partners will be selected from Nigeria in order to promote the local companies of the country. Furthermore, the revenue generated by these minor partners will help their growth within the country.
Following is a detailed SWOT Analysis on the Glastonbury Festivals Ltd. organization.
- Very high ability for crowd pulling
- Well reputed around the world
- Many major and internationally acclaimed performers participate in the festival
- Uniqueness and different from other music / art festivals 1. No accumulation of profits due to annual charity
- No significant investment in security during events
- Too much dependant on self investment
- Many new sponsors and partners can be gathered with better marketing planning
- Festival can be hosted outside of Somerset, England if international reach is desired 1. Threat of competitors, due to growing number of festivals in different countries (example Tomorrowland in Belgium)
- Ageing of the main founder of the festival
Festivals are always huge events of entertainments for the people. Art and music festivals are very much relevant in today’s world with the growing popularity of music and art industry. However, unlike other festivals, Glastonbury is quite unique in its own right and has an altogether different charm and hence, it is able to pull so many spectators.
However, this time, the target of the organization is to gain access to an overseas market and hence, Nigeria has been chosen (Gibson and Connell 2016). Nigeria is a potential new market for arts and festivals as it has been seen that the popularity of the international arts and music has been increasing in the country at a fast rate. Also, Glastonbury will have the opportunity for charity in the country.
Political – The political condition of the country will not be a major challenge as they are now supporting the growth of music festival industry in the country.
Economic – Economy of the country might be a problem for the event but with investment from different sponsors, the challenge can be easily addressed.
Social – With more exposure to western music and festivals and a chance to display native culture in front of the whole world, the society in Nigeria is expected to make a the event a grand success.
Technological – The country lacks sufficient technological set up but with recent progress in technology, the festival can be hosted with much problem.
Environmental – Glastonbury festival is strict in the conservation of environment and strictly bans the use of materials that will harm the environment. Hence, the environmental factor will not be a problem for the event.
Legal – Legal factors will not be challenge for the event if all the native laws and guidelines are followed and met during organization of the festival.
It has been found that the conditions in Nigeria are generally favorable for hosting the festival although there can be some minor risks and challenges like security and others (Bachman et al. 2016). However, these risks and challenges can easily be addressed if suitable management plans are undertaken. Some of these possible plans are listed as follows.
SWOT Analysis of Glastonbury Festivals Ltd.
Security Problem – Till now, Glastonbury authority has not much emphasized on the security of the spectators during the festival. As a result, the crime rate during the festival rises significantly and also causes death of few spectators during to excessive drug injection made during stealing the money from the subjects.
Investment – It will not a problem for a festival of Glastonbury’s size to gather sufficient amount of sponsors and investors. Since this is the first international venture of the festival, significant amount of investments will be necessary and hence, external funding will be necessary.
In spite of challenges and other factors, the organization has a massive chance of extensive marketing especially in the continent of Africa as there are no threats of competitors. Most of the African countries have not hosted any western music concerts or art festivals
From the beginning in 1970, the festival’s theme has always been counterculture, hippie and free festival movements. With modernization of the festival throughout the years, the festival has been able to maintain its original core theme and hence, this is one of the most unique art festivals in the world. Furthermore, the event is strict on the usage of materials and any materials like plastic that harms the environment are strictly banned in the event premises.
In the actual event, the music and other art performances are done in a pyramid shaped podium. This tradition will be followed and a temporary pyramid podium will be built at the event venue in Lagos, Nigeria.
However, before implementing the original theme and design on the event, several important points are to be considered. These are as follows.
Acceptability of British Culture in Nigeria – The first consideration to be made is to survey whether the British hippie culture and theme will be acceptable in a country like Nigeria (Hudson et al. 2015). The main objective of a music festival should be to unite people and not divide and hence, considerations are necessary before choosing the theme.
Alternative Theme – Since this is a first time international venture of the festival, the theme can also be changed to reflect the culture of the country where the festival will be hosted. As an alternative theme, Nigerian folk culture can be used that will not only increase the popularity of the event in the country but also reflect the country’s culture on an international stage.
Challenges and Management Plans for Hosting Glastonbury in Nigeria
The design of the event should reflect the entire festival and the events performed in it. Basically it will be based on drama, music and arts performances that will be performed in the event by various artists from worldwide.
Just hosting the festival in a different country is not sufficient as it requires a lot of planning and advertising. Without proper marketing of the event, it will not be successful and sufficient number of spectators cannot be gathered (Andersson, Armbrecht and Lundberg 2017). Hence, before the launch of the festival, some marketing plans are to be implemented. Some of the marketing plans are as follows.
Advertise in Social Media – Social media can be used as a major tool for marketing of the event. Using social media sites like facebook, twitter and others, suitable marketing movements can be implemented using advertisements, quiz competitions through which tickets for the event can be won and others.
Visual Media – Glastonbury already has contract with BBC for streaming of the festival through visual media (television, streaming site, etc.). BBC can be used for extensive advertisement of the event through various tv channels and visual promotions.
Native Promotions – Promotions are also required in the country where the event will be hosted i.e. in Nigeria. This can be done through visual media, billboards and leaflets, newspaper advertisements and others.
Other Promotions – Other modes of promotion include games shows with tickets for lucky winners, lottery shows and others.
References
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Bachman, J.R., Norman, W.C., Hopkins, C.D. and Brookover, R.S., 2016. Examining the role of self-concept theory on motivation, satisfaction, and intent to return of music festival volunteers. Event Management, 20(1), pp.41-52.
Ballantyne, J., Ballantyne, R. and Packer, J., 2014. Designing and managing music festival experiences to enhance attendees’ psychological and social benefits. Musicae Scientiae, 18(1), pp.65-83.
Getz, D. and Page, S., 2016. Event studies: Theory, research and policy for planned events. Routledge.
Gibson, C. and Connell, J., 2016. Music festivals and regional development in Australia. Routledge.
Hoksbergen, E. and Insch, A., 2016. Facebook as a platform for co-creating music festival experiences: The case of New Zealand’s Rhythm and Vines New Year’s Eve festival. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 7(2), pp.84-99.
Hudson, S., Roth, M.S., Madden, T.J. and Hudson, R., 2015. The effects of social media on emotions, brand relationship quality, and word of mouth: An empirical study of music festival attendees. Tourism Management, 47, pp.68-76.
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Masterman, G., 2014. Strategic sports event management. Routledge.
Nordvall, A. and Heldt, T., 2017. Understanding hallmark event failure: a case study of a Swedish music festival. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 8(2), pp.172-185.
Trindade, A., Borges, A.P., Vieira, E. and Gomes, S., 2018. Satisfaction Scoring Index for a musical festival during and after the event: The NOS Primavera Sound Case Study. European Journal of Applied Business and Management, 3(2).
Van Niekerk, M. and Getz, D., 2016. The identification and differentiation of festival stakeholders. Event Management, 20(3), pp.419-431.
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