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Hunter boots have long been the go-to footwear for Somerset's muddy Glastonbury music festival. Kate Moss, Alexa Chung, Kate Bosworth: They tromp through the festival in $100 rubber boots just like everyone else. The boots ("wellies," if we're being British) are stylistically synonymous with Glastonbury the way that flower crowns are with Coachella.
The brand took it upon themselves to channel all of this music festival fashion consumer success into a Festival Summit held Tuesday; a series of keynote presentations and Q&A sessions surrounding "key insights and forecasting for the 2016 music festival season." In English, a bunch of suits had a big meeting about how to best get you, dear fashion customer, to drop money on new stuff surrounding festival season.
"Our search insights have revealed how demand [for Hunter festival product] starts in April and grows massively from June, all the way through to September," said Willis. "What these insights have told us is that we need to have a sustained [festival] narrative from April though September, an 'always-on' festival conversation which will enable us to have a much closer relationship with our customer." In order to "amplify the conversation," the brand's 2016 strat includes a digital festival hub, a dedicated festival campaign (including a film), festival pop-ups shops, and "guerrilla activity on the ground" at select festivals.
"The reach and commercial opportunity of festivals makes them a very serious business," Hunter creative director Alasdhair Willis said. How big? According to Clare Lusher, marketing director of MAMA Festivals, the UK festival audience is 14 million people (23% of the population) and the US audience is 33 million (10% of the population). So many potential dollars to be spent.
"The non-disposable moments at festivals carry so much weight — they are unforgettable, water-tight, locked-down emotional memories that as a brand, you want to access and be associated with," Willis explained. Kind of like when you see a Coca-Cola logo hovering on screen at the euphoric moment your [sportsball] team wins the [sports]. Endorphins, adrenaline, customer loyalty growth opps!
Google industry manager Pia Stanchina revealed that weather searches spike in the two days prior to Glastonbury, "an opportunity for brands to tap into those last minute conversations." Refreshingly, the top search term for the season is still "How to loosen festival wrist band."