Evaluating the brand image of a rock festival using positive critical incidents

What is it about?

Provinssirock, one of the largest main stream rock festivals in Finland, uses a slogan the Festival of the People in its marketing. Festival participants were asked to describe incidents that made them feel particularly strongly that the festival was the Festival of the People. The aim was to find out how the audience perceived the brand image of the festival embedded into its slogan. The most important elements of the brand image were a certain live act, the atmosphere in general, a positive state of mind, social interaction, unknown people and collective activity. This kind of brand image cannot be created nor maintained by the organiser alone, and the audience members are contributing to and actually co-creating the brand image.

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Why is it important?

Since effective and successful branding increases the popularity and loyalty of the festival, and its economic success factors like positive media coverage and sponsors’ interest, it is essential that the festival brand image is credible and strong. The major part of the brand image in question was (co-)created by the participants themselves, especially within the groups’ behaviour, activities and feelings. The Festival of the People was created by the festival community where the importance of social and inclusive behaviour towards strangers was essential. The use of Critical Incident Technique in the festival brand image evaluation introduces new possibilities in the field.