WINTER | COVER FEATURE
European support. Creative
Technology, for example, did the
screens, but the parts often came
from across Europe.
“GL events did all the
grandstands, and a lot of the
team came from the UK, but the
equipment used was often from
a French company. The same
applies to Aggreko, who have
been involved in sporting events
all over the world. They delivered
the power and distribution, but
utilised a lot of French gear. It was
a UK led team, but they worked
with French components.”
For catering, a similar picture
emerged, Kitson adds: “Lenôtre,
part of Sodexo, provided the
catering and did 50% of the
hospitality, but Mecca did the other
part and delivered a good package,
using their network.”
There are other reasons why
the UK’s suppliers have succeeded
abroad, according to Tofu: “Our
workers are able to get work in
most places. This is down, surely,
to our dominance, the English
Language, and a super respect for
the UK Music industry.
“Ironically, as someone who
goes worldwide, I’d say you’re just
as – if not more likely – to find
Australians on the big productions
because of the successful Olympics,
and a small market meaning they
have to travel, resulting in some
of our Aussie brothers and sisters
being involved in a 365-days-a-year
festival life.”
Clone wars
So, with many UK suppliers
carving a proven track record
internationally, is it surprising that
there’s not more UK festival clones
or franchises world-wide?
Certainly, festivals locked by
name to a geographic location (The
Isle of Wight Festival, Glastonbury,
etc) might struggle to clone their
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Contributors
Ella Nosworthy
Olivia Diamond
Nick Morgan
Laurie Kirby
Chris Tofu MBE
brands. And, many wrongly
assume Kendal Calling and
Standon Calling to be affiliated,
but there are several case studies
of when English festival geo-
cloning attempts – to borrow an
Americanism – “go bad”.
Bestival, which spawned
much-lauded sister festival Camp
Bestival, suffered a touch of ‘brand-
stretch’ after announcing that
2016’s Bestival Toronto (the second
in this city), and the inaugural
2017 Bestival Bali, would be their
last, although they did, at the time,
state an intention to return.
Metal festival Download,
meanwhile, has successfully
geo-cloned in locations including
France, Japan, Spain, Australia and
Scotland, with uniformly stellar
line-ups.
Much of Download’s
international wingspan can be
put down to Live Nation’s clout
and influence, according to Laurie
Kirby, co-president of FestForums,
a North American festival
conference based in California.
She says that events like
Download and Lollapalooza,
created in 1991 by Jane’s Addiction
singer Perry Farrell, have been able
to swell in their reach because of
their conglomerate backing. “Live
Nation and C3 have vast resources,
name recognition and boots on the
ground to execute on a massive
scale. Others that have attempted
this have not been so successful, so
I believe festivals stay in their lanes
for these reasons.”
She adds: “Festivals are
expensive and complicated to
produce. Permitting, a local matter,
is at the heart of the festival’s
ability to thrive. That is most
often based on good community
relationships. Scaling up also
engenders complicated issues
such as staffing, liability, brand
awareness, production teams,
marketing, and overall logistics.”
The issue of local knowledge
cannot be underestimated,
according to The Fair CEO Nick
Morgan. “There can be a lot of
unknowns when brands try to run
their show themselves abroad.
They often don’t work simply due
to lack of knowledge of the local
economy, audience, logistics and
production, etc.
“Club culture abroad, in
countries like the US, is very
different to the UK. For example,
Creamfields took on the US,
and was cancelled in New York
due to logistics and poor ticket
sales. Taking a brand out of
territory is a huge risk and the
key to succeeding often lies with
franchising.
“The franchise needs to know
the local economy, audience,
and local production companies
in order to succeed, Morgan
continues: “This can be a