The failure of the Fyre Festival must have been the catastrophe of the decade in the music festival world – the millions (mis)spent, the grossly oversold dream, the hundreds of party goers who had paid thousands of dollars with no idea what they are in for. If you haven’t seen it, watch it and marvel at the meltdown with a smattering of schadenfreude. The fiasco is centred around Billy McFarland, a mature-looking young guy with a charming smile and a skill for getting people to part with their money. His gift is coming up with ways to reel people in with the allure of ‘exclusivity’ and selling the dream.
#1: Listen to your people – and help them help you
One of his employees, Keith, had pretty valuable input as he had been travelling/living in the Bahamas for 10 years, can actually pilot people there on his plane, and was so personally invested that he and his wife took it upon themselves to set up a tent and camp out in the Bahamian night when Billy said they would not bother with proper housing. Verdict: The heat and the mosquitoes made it an awful experience. When he pointed out other issues to resolve, he was conveniently taken out of the project.
Another colleague, Marc Weinstein, whose workload ballooned from trying to house 400 guests to 1,400 guests on a remote island with limited capacity and resources, was blatantly ignored when he tried to warn that it was an impossible task and people will be stranded without housing.
What did Billy do? He either replaced them with ‘yes-men’ who are new to the project (hence clouded by enthusiasm) or repeat platitudes like ‘we are in the business of finding solutions, not problems’, which are deeply unhelpful come crunch time. These people cared deeply about the project and are working around the clock – don’t put it on them to come up with solutions which in the end they are not empowered to do.
#2: Having a vision is important – and so is execution
Billy and his famous buddy Ja Rule went in big and full of bluster. They totally believed in what they were making, and people believed it, until it got pretty delusional. They had no clue on what it takes to create a music festival. This is what happens when the team at the helm are too inexperienced but have too much power and refuse to listen to needs from the ground.
There are three ingredients with any project: time, money and quality, and the rule of thumb is you can only have two out of the three (ie more time, more money = higher quality and vice versa). This project though, was burning through money like there was no tomorrow, to create perception rather than an actual experience, that there was very little left for the actual event, and time was not on their side at all. It takes a good part of a year to secure the venue, get good acts in, 6 – 8 months to organise and plan a festival – and this at a location where there are already the basics. As much as the vision was a great idea, they just could not execute, and unfortunately, many people involved in the project got burned.
Tip: A proper plan and solid decisions made upfront will save you tons of money. Changing things frequently last minute is a recipe for stress and throwing away money especially when working with external contractors. For some senior executives, it boils down to pre-launch fears and desire for control, the antics of which are incredibly disempowering for those around them.
#3. You got to be realistic
To be honest, the Fyre Festival was probably just too big. If they weren’t so greedy about selling so many tickets and catered to a far smaller group of people instead, it could have been salvaged and resources could have been put into putting on a good show, reasonable accommodation and adequate infrastructure (basic needs for sanitation, food, water and transport!) for everyone – not to mention creating during and post-event content to milk it for what it’s worth. For first-timers, it would have been a learning experience for next time. They totally oversold on their promise just so they can get punters to pay more upfront. Also, for a music festival, the equipment has got to be good, and it is no surprise that both booking agent and the acts bailed as there wasn’t sufficient investment in this area.
A good lesson here is to check if what you are offering can be available in the first place, then promise. We need to delight our customers, which is quite hard to do without delivering the service they paid for!
#4: It IS about marketing (but not only…)
Good job on getting people though the door with sexy designs, people and hype but too bad they couldn’t deliver! Although their Chief Marketing Officer, Grant, was portrayed as a neurotic and way in over his head (at least he was obvious about it), he did a marvellous job helping his crazy bosses sell the dream. Regardless of who came up with the idea, working with a bevy of famous people and influencers to cavort half naked on the beach and yachts in the festival commercial, getting them to do the infamous ‘orange tile’ social post to market Fyre – just generated tons of buzz which in Ja Rule’s words ‘money can’t buy’. Shame the money they otherwise saved didn’t go into making the festival experience a good one.
#5: Care about people: especially your customers and employees!
When Marc warned them repeatedly that 350 people will have no where to sleep, Billy either suggested they pitch their own tents instead, and at the last hour, said that ‘at least they would have a good yoga session from you’. Their priorities are out of whack! Billy clearly had no respect for people’s needs, and even refers them off-hand as ‘average American loser’.
They also clearly did not think through the customer journey – how people are going to get there, what to do when they arrive, how to register, how to collect their bags, how to claim their accommodation etc. They did not even have money set aside to pay their employees and contractors, some of whom had to dip into their life savings to keep themselves afloat post-Fyre.
What was also unacceptable was that after Billy was out on bail, he had the cheek to hire another young upstart, Frank, to front his latest scam in selling VIP tickets and exclusives to shows that don’t exist. This guy clearly is only out to make money for himself, has no interest in doing real deals and has no problem upsetting people who get duped. I hope he’s repenting in jail right now!
In hindsight, it was pretty clear that Billy must have some kind of narcissistic disorder. People with this disorder are truly delusional, out of touch with reality, lack empathy for others, are grandiose, and they have cognitive lapses in their ability to reason and decipher reality accurately which leads them into doing breathtakingly stupid and reckless things.
#6. Have the courage to back out
Again, the organisers are repeatedly told by professionals they hired to either postpone the festival, or cancel it when it was clear it was not going to work. They refused to as they wanted to avoid paying penalties and issuing refunds, as they were so deep in the hole, and they probably did not want to ‘lose face’ – but the reputational and criminal damage done by pressing forward was irreparable.
It’s good to have a grand idea, a great vision, but it is wise to start small in the beginning and gradually scale up to build something that lasts. And good things take time! Most importantly, consider the needs of your customers, the recommendations of your colleagues and manage everyone’s expectations (including your own) accordingly.
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is now screening on Netflix.
