Park Life Music Festival Analysis
Umar Rasul
Contents
Terms of Reference ................................................................................................................................................ 2
History of Park Life Festival .................................................................................................................................... 3
An Overview of Park Life ........................................................................................................................................ 4
The Marketing Mix: 4 Ps [product, price, place, promotion] ............................................................................. 4
Customer Care Strategy ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Recommendations .................................................................................................................................................. 7
References .............................................................................................................................................................. 8
Appendices ............................................................................................................................................................. 8
Terms of Reference
Lynsey Watson has asked to produce a report on two aspects of the marketing of a company, based on my
previous marketing report written on the Park Life music festival. The two main areas of focus of this report
will be the marketing mix consisting of the four P’s and Park Life’s customer care strategy.
History of Park Life Festival
Park Life is an independent music which is set in the West end of Glasgow, Scotland. It was established in June
2005 by Kate and Ryan Anderson; over the years the festival has seen slow and steady growth and has become
the premium independent music festival in Scotland. Over the next 11 years the festival has seen numerous
venue changes and has grown in attendance from 500 to an average attendance of 5000 over a two-day
festival.
An Overview of Park Life
The Marketing Mix: 4 Ps [product, price, place, promotion]
The four Ps refer to a framework of the marketing mix that is used to help businesses create a successful
marketing strategy. The four aspects of the four Ps are price, product, place and promotion.
Price refers to the amount of money that customers will pay for the product or service. It is an important
factor as it determines the value of sales made, as well as covering the business’ costs and generating profits.
There are different pricing strategies businesses can use such as penetration pricing, competitive pricing and
price skimming. For Park Life 2016, although all alcoholic beverages at the festival will be available for the
same price, which is £5 per unit, the Bulldog Festival Beer will be introduced as a premium product.
Product, also called the product mix refers to the entire range of product lines that a company offers to its
customers. It includes three main features: product width, length and depth. Width refers to the number of
different product lines which a company has to offer. Length refers to the total number of products in the
product mix. Depth refers to the total number of products within a specific product line, this includes things
such as variations of the same product in the same product line. Some other factors encompassed by the
product mix include packaging, functionality, materials, size and shape.
An example of Product is Bulldog Beer, they sell a range of alcoholic beverages and plans to release a Festival
Beer, a bespoke product targeting festival attendees. The beer will sit alongside their existing products:
Bulldog Lager, Bulldog IPA, and Bulldog Stout.
Place refers to the location and distribution channels where the company’s product or service can be accessed.
Some examples are online stores, distributors, wholesalers or retail stores. The Bulldog Festival Beer will
initially be available only at the festival. To achieve this, the three bars currently operating at the festival will
be re-branded as Bull Bars and only carry Bulldog Beers products. Additionally, Bulldog Festival Beer will be
sold through national supermarkets Waitrose, Tesco, and ASDA after the festival.
Promotion refers to the actions companies take for communication and advertising of their product or service
to potential customers. It includes steps the company should take such as developing a marketing message,
selecting channels to market through and designing campaigns to attract customers. The goal of promotion is
to increase awareness, interest and demand, and ultimately to convince the target audience to purchase the
product or service. To promote their new product, Bulldog Beers along with the assistance of Park Life festival
aim to align it with the image of independence and originality that the festival portrays. The festival will
rebrand the bars to become Bull Bars and only carry Bulldog products.
Customer Care Strategy
Park Life employ many customer care strategies one of which is their focus on customer experience. The
festivals expansion and introduction of new additions such as new stages and camping facilities is an example
of their dedication to improving the experience of their customers and giving them the opportunity to have a
more fulfilling and memorable festival experience. Additionally it gives customers a wider range of options to
choose from.
Another example of Park Life’s customer care strategy is their responsiveness to customer feedback. In
reaction to customer feedback Park Life have made many changes to their festival. For example, after receiving
a positive response to the addition of European artists, the festival expanded their line-up to include more
European artists. This shows that Park Life values their customers and indicate the importance of their input
and aims to cater to their preferences.
Conclusion
Park Life have a strong marketing mix by considering the 4Ps framework to create a successful marketing
strategy. The festival’s customer care strategy mainly focussed on enhancing the customer’s experience and
being receptive to customer feedback. These strategies have been contributing factors to Park Life’s success as
a premium music festival.
Recommendations
It is important for an organisation to be able to adapt their marketing mix in response to changing market
conditions as it improves their ability to sustain their revenue and business operation. Being able to change
their marketing mix also helps them to be able to react to changes in trends in the future which may affect
demand for their products or services.
The economic recession is a market condition that is currently affecting Park Life, and may have a significant
impact on their pricing strategies in the near future. The recession will decrease the buying power of
consumers and therefore Park Life may need to reconsider their pricing strategies.
Since their product isn’t one which is a necessity people who have less spending power due to the recession
will be less likely to spend as much money on their festival, therefore Park Life may need to offer a lower ticket
price in order to boost demand for their festival.
Another market condition that influenced Park Life was the positive response they received to the inclusion of
European artists in the festival’s line-up. To further capitalise on this positive response, they could continue to
expand their line-up to include more independent artists from across Europe.
This would help them attract a wider audience from across Europe as well as solidify their reputation as an
inclusive music festival.
A market condition for Park Life to consider could be the ageing population. As majority of their target
audience are between the ages 18 and 25, it may be a worthwhile investment to create an event that appeal
to older adults such as jazz or classical music. Alongside this they could provide comfortable seating for this
new target audience. Adapting their marketing mix to attract older attendees could add significant value to
their current product.
References
Appendices