FYRE Festival went down in flames.

There are ethical mistakes. Then there are complete, extreme, irresponsible ethical DISASTERS.

This particular event is VERY rich and juicy from multiple perspectives, from marketing and design to pricing and so much more.

This is simply an abuse of ethical principles. Now let’s get down to the RED. FLAGS.

If you haven’t heard of FYRE FESTIVAL, sit tight. Aaron Ellis* has said it perfectly; “This was the next step in the march towards a peak music festival: an expensive show that promised the world to music fans, and then vastly underdelivered due to poor preparation, misleading marketing, greed, and pure hubris” and if that doesn’t explain it, this will; ‘A ROYAL F#*K up” (This is quite a polite description too). The 2 week ‘festival’ was to take place on a ‘lush private island “once owned by Pablo Escobar” in the Bahamas’ Exumas district, boasting elegant villa-style housing, gourmet catering, beach yoga, bikini-clad models aboard rented jet skis and yachts, a treasure hunt, which prized $1 million in “luxury jewellery, watches AND cash,” and a piece of ocean front property. TOO. GOOD. TO. BE. TRUE.

The advertising and marketing industry have shaped most of the more popular and prevalent ethical lapses. The industry is governed by many design principles that abide by the philosophy of systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct, designers ultimately have power over how consumers spend their money. In this instance, FYRE Festival’s marketing and design elements were definitely the only successful outcomes. Kudos to them.

The key considerations of design are the consumer and their trust, both abused by the failure of FYRE Festival. Having strong marketing assets, guided by an excellent design can build attention, trust and anticipation very quickly, especially if all elements of expectation are met. FYRE Festival had all the ingredients of a successful launch from a great offering / product, GREAT design and expensive prices (Anywhere from USD $500 to $12,000… it’s not very often you pay thousands for something horrible).

What was the result of this strong marketing and impeccable design?

• No musicians showed up, nor did any of the celebs, models and influencers.

• The luxury accommodations were disaster relief tents with mattresses that were drenched from the rains.

• The gourmet food was cold cheese sandwiches with leaves.

• The people flew in clunky 737s instead of private jets, and that’s the ones who got a flight; many others were stuck in Miami airport for hours as flights were delayed and then cancelled.

• The island wasn’t secluded, as there was also a Sandals resort nearby.

• No electricity. No bathrooms. No showers.

• Complete disaster.

Social media is debatably one of the most powerful forms of advertising, and as social media strategist Vickie Segar worded it, “Instagram social media marketing, or influencer marketing, is the most impactful form of marketing for an entire generation.” FYRE Festival started their entire marketing campaign with social media, flooding millions of viewers pages with impeccable design concepts. I would arguably say this was the most impressive social media campaign for one of the biggest event failures… ever. Don’t get any ideas.

The first activation; 400 influencers, including some of the world’s top supermodels like Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and Hailey Baldwin, posted a bright orange image with the #fyrefestival, pretty much building the entire festival hype and leveraged the millennial fear of missing out (FOMO).

The second activation; their FYRE Festival announcement campaign video. Flawless videography, models, jet skis, island holidaying, private jets, champagne, parties, the ocean… honestly, I was sold (my wallet wasn’t).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=mz5kY3RsmKo&feature=emb_logo

Now, by this time, nothing had been deemed ‘fraudulent’ or ethically irresponsible… Until Kendall Jenner was reportedly paid $250,000 for her endorsement, while less popular influencers got $10,000 per post AND most did not disclose that they were being paid to promote FYRE, which was a blatant violation of FTC influencer marketing regulations.

The plot thickens, FYRE Festival continued to promote itself on social media, teasing “limited” tickets… even offering a 25% discount (HINT: Strange). 2 months out and travel arrangements weren’t communicated (I.e. Didn’t exist), FYRE performers didn’t receive money promised in their contracts on time, the ‘private luxury island’ isn’t actually a private luxury island, it’s an undeveloped area on the main island of Grand Exuma, in which Pablo Escobar never owned, Major Lazer (An announced FYRE DJ) are booked for another festival that weekend… and this list continues.

By picking apart FYRE festival, we can begin to understand marketing manipulation, especially social media and the power of strong design. Almost ALL ethical boundaries were crossed and the vulnerable were targeted, if there’s one thing you’ll learn, this really was too good to be true.

I’ll leave you with this.

"In a way, Fyre Festival was an amazing success. Instead of entertaining thousands of people, it entertained millions."

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) April 29, 2017.