About Woodford Folk Festival

The famous Woodford Folk Festival in Australia is held on an annual basis over 6 nights and 6 days. It starts from 27 December and goes on until 1 January. As many as 2000 international, national and local musicians, artists and other presenters display more than four hundred and thirty eight acts in front of an audience comprised of approximately 132,000 people. The Australian Woodford Folk Festival is renowned for its iconic Opening Ceremony. It closes quite spectacularly as well, with a fire event being conducted on the first day of the New Year (Gibson & Connell, 2016). The festival is based on the vision of a creative and inclusive community, tradition and culture that has been passed down by generations of Australians and which has been expressed through ceremony and story. Woodfordia, is at the time of the festival transformed into one massive village comprising of more than 25,000 volunteers, organizers, stallholders, performers and daily patrons. Around 2680 volunteers from as many as 162 departments contribute effectively to the everyday setting up and running of this vibrant festival (Mahadevan 2017). This report aims at creating a detailed marketing plan to identify the different ways in which the Australian Woodford Folk Festival could end up increasing the number of day-trippers to its venue in the next three years. To do so, the report identifies, describes and quantifies potential and target market segments with the ultimate aim of the marketing plan being to attract the target market segment selected.

Mission Statements 

Woodfordia is a well known non-profit as well as community driven organization. It is headquartered in Woodford in the South Eastern part of the Australian state of Queensland. Some of the Woodfordia’s popular pursuits include the production of the Woodfordia Artisan Camp, the Small Halls Festival, The Planting Festival and the Folk Festival. The mission statement of Woodfordia is to foster, facilitate and stimulate the promotion and preservation of folk culture. It wishes to do so for the good of the common people of Australia (Woodfordia Inc, 2018). Some of the main objectives of the Woodfordia organization are to:

• Act as coordinating body for numerous folk activities that are conducted in Queensland
• To encourage participation in artistic expressions via the folk medium
• Assisting in the passage as well as acquisition of skills that are loyal and true to folk tradition spirit
• Promoting interest in folk studies and folk performance as well as collection and dissemination traditional Australian cultural practices as well as folk practices unique to Queensland State
• Carry out the implementation and maintenance of projects like concerts, folk centre, folk clubs, workshops, libraries and festivals that shall assist such objects
• Engage in the provision of necessary informative and communicative devices that may be used for the achievement of these objects
• To represent membership in all forums that effect such objects. To cooperate as well as assist other groups, individuals or organizations with similar objects

It is the aim of the Woodfordia organization to increase the number of day trippers at the Woodford Folk Festival quite substantively. It aims to do so in order to provide some form of leisure and recreation that is rooted in Australian folk culture and tradition for people who own pets, who are not agile enough to travel much, and for whom the cost or logistics of spending even one night away from home could be rather prohibitive. By increasing the number of day-trippers to its folk festival, Woodfordia also aims at catering to the cultural tastes and requirements of families that are entrusted with the care of young children and who cannot afford to be away from them for even one night (Gration & Raciti, 2014).

Woodfordia Mission and Objectives

Current Day Tripper Market and Marketing Strategies 

The day tripper population at the Woodford Folk Festival is one that is steadily growing in number. The Woodford Folk Festival is known to receive approximately 116,000 visitors every single year, out of which at least 4000 or more are day trippers. The percentage of day trippers attending the Woodford Folk Festival has gone up by as much as ten percent in the last one year or so. The day trippers at the Woodford Folk Festival are those who enjoy all the music, fun and social debates that take place during the festival but who want to go back home at the end of the day rather than camping out at the festival site. Since they are compelled to return home after the festivities, the day trippers tend to be a weary lot once the sun goes down. Apart from getting tired easily, primarily due to the fact that they have to confine all their festival activities to a stipulated number of hours in the day, most day trippers at the Woodford Folk Festival tend to find the event a bit expensive. Day tickets at the Woodford Folk Festival cost $ 109 on an average, which is a lot to pay for people who are not going to be at the festival for the entire length of its times but rather will attend only all the activities that take place during the day (Gibson, 2013).

A good marketing strategy to deploy for attracting day trippers to the Woodford Folk Festival would be to reduce the price of the day tickets by at least ten to twenty dollars. This will encourage more and more people to buy day tickets and attend the festival rather than avoiding the festival altogether because day tickets are expensive (Gibson, 2014). Another good way to increase the presence of day trippers at the Woodford Folk Festival is to increase the bus services that bring people to the festival site from main city areas and take them back again. There is a Woodford Express Shuttle facility which is in operation at the moment, and this shuttle service can be made to expand by a considerable extent to increase the number of day trippers attending the festival.

• Strengths– The Woodford Folk Festival invites folk artists and exponents of Australian folk culture to show-case their skills during the festival. People who are fond of folk music and dance can get to witness their favorite regional and even international artists perform right in front of them at the festival. The Woodford Folk Festival thus not only strengthens and promotes Australian indigenous folk culture and gives it the recognition it deserves, but also provides vast numbers of people within and outside Australia to come and enjoy themselves at this festival, thereby earning plenty of revenue for the government (Connell, 2016).
• Weaknesses – While the Woodford Folk Festival is one that is organized every year quite meticulously, the arrangements for day trippers attending the festival are not sufficient. There are plenty of camping sites made available for people looking to stay overnight in order to enjoy themselves on all the six days of the festival, but for people who only attend festivities during the day, there aren’t enough refreshment services, entertainment options or even transport facilities that will encourage them to visit in larger numbers. For instance, as far as transport arrangements are concerned, there is only one shuttle service known as the Woodford Express Shuttle that ferries day trippers to and from the festival site daily and the price of day tickets is quite expensive too, at $ 109 (Arthurs, 2013).
• Opportunities – Given the popularity of the Woodford Folk Festival and the fact that it attracts both a national and international audience, there is plenty of scope for the festival organizers to earn more revenue, especially if the number of day trippers to the festival could be increased. While the cost of day tickets is relatively high at $109 it is discouraging people from buying such tickets as they get to enjoy only a limited number of festival events during the day and more often than not would not like to spend so much to do so. The festival organizers can consider reducing the day ticket prices by ten to twenty percent, and also increasing shuttle services and refreshment facilities for day trippers at the festival over the next three years, so that they feel more relaxed and comfortable at the festival rather than feeling tired and worn out (Gration et al.,2015).
• Threats – At present there are no serious threats that the Woodford Folk Festival is faced with. The Woodford Folk Festival organized by Woodfordia Inc is one of a kind. There is no other organization that arranges festivities on such a grand scale in the domain of Australian folk culture other than Woodfordia Inc, so competition is relatively nil. However, due to the lack of sufficient arrangements for day trippers at the festival and the fact that day tickets are overpriced, the festival organizers are not able to increase day tripper visits to the festival, and are therefore not able to earn as much revenue from the festival as is possible. Hence this is an area that needs to be looked into (Zeppel, 2013).

Strengths	Weaknesses
· Attended by artists and people from all over the world · Generates revenue for the Australian government	Inadequate transportation arrangements and refreshment facilities for day trippers
Opportunities	Threats
Increase revenue by improving day tripper attendance	No serious threats

Based on competitive advantage theory, the Woodford Folk Festival organizers will increase the number of shuttle services that transport people from major metropolitan destinations to the festival venue and take them back, in the next three years. While there is only one shuttle service known as the Woodford Express that is running at the moment at least two more shuttle buses will be introduced for the upcoming Woodford Folk Festival this year to encourage more day trippers to attend the festival (Wagner & Hollenbeck, 2014). The festival organizers in the next three years will also schedule events in a way that well known local and international artists performing at the festival get to carry out their shows during the day, at a time when these can be attended by day trippers and festival campers alike. Special arrangements will be made also in the form of an increased number of chairs, benches and other types of seating arrangements so that older members among the festival day trippers or those attending the festival with young children can get to relax and take it easy after rigorously moving about the festival site, hopping from one event to another (Ballantyne et al., 2014).

Increase Day Tripper Attendance

(Source – as created by the author)

Marketing Objectives and Target Market 

Specific Objectives 

• To increase the number of day trippers attending the festival by a substantive number in the next three years
• To make day trippers of all ages feel relaxed and comfortable while attending the festival
• To make day trippers feel that they do get value for the money that they pay for one day festival tickets, when attending the festival events.

S – Specific	Improving day tripper attendance at the Woodford Folk Festival
M – Measurable	Increasing number of tickets sold to day trippers for attending the festival
A – Attainable	Bringing about an increase in tickets specifically for day trippers
R – Relevant	Getting day trippers to feel relaxed and comfortable at the festival
T – Time Bound	Making day trippers feel they get full value for the money they spend on attending the festival

Working professionals who are in their youth, that is, those aged between 24 and 35 years of age form a potential day tripper target market segment. Such people have spending power because they are employed in lucrative jobs, and are likely to be well entertained by the festival events, most of which feature performances by renowned national and international folk music artists, because of the age group to which they belong (Tkaczynski, 2013).

People in their early and late middle age, that is, people aged between 36 and 56 years also form a potential day tripper market segment. Such people also have considerable spending power due to the fact that they are usually well established in their jobs by now and are also not old enough to feel to weary and tired when camping at the festival site or when extensively touring the festival site attending one event after another (Mair, 2017).

The selected and most suitable day tripper market for the Woodford Folk Festival for the next three years is the early youth target market segment. These are people who are definitely not likely to get too tired as a result of a day trip, even when travelling with families and young children and will not find the festival too expensive to attend if the day ticket prices are reduced. They will have all the enthusiasm, energy and money required to have fun at the festival and will certainly find it even more convenient to attend the festival when the shuttle service is expanded for their benefit (Connell & Gibson, 2013).

Product 

The product being marketed over the next three years is the one day festival tickets for the Woodford Folk Festival. The one day tickets encourage day trippers to attend the festival without being compelled to stay overnight at the festival venue by camping out.

The new price of the festival ticket is going to be fixed at $ 90 in the next three years so as to cater to customers of every budget. It is hoped that the moderate price of the ticket will encourage day trippers to take part in the Woodford Folk Festival in larger numbers than usual in the coming three years.

The moderately priced one day Woodford Folk Festival tickets will be extensively promoted in the next three years on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. Efforts will also be made to promote such tickets through leaflets at coffee shops and shopping malls (Abreu-Novais & Arcodia, 2013).

Day Tripper Population Trends

The low priced one day festival tickets for the Woodford Folk Festival will be sold during the next three years online as it is done so in the present also, via the festival website. Potential customers can pay for the tickets using credit and debit cards, PayPal or internet banking facilities.

The one day tickets for the Woodford Folk Festival in the next three years will be sold at a reduced price for all and sundry, but very specifically also for people who are under thirty five years of age and who are extremely likely to attend the festival as day trippers.

The process of selling the one-day tickets over the next three years will be fairly simple. The tickets shall start being sold at least four to six months ahead of the actual dates of the festival so as to enable as many people as possible to book their participation at the festival.

Every attempt will be made to make the ambience of the festival venue as vibrant and as colorful as possible. Colorful hoarding and signboards will guide visitors to specific events. There will be sufficient space for people to move around in too.

Activity

Jan

Feb

March

April

May

June

July

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Marking out all the marketing objectives

y

Recruiting marketing professionals

y

Initiating different marketing processes

y

y

y

Procuring feedback from the entire marketing process

y

Introducing changes if necessary

y

Continuing with the marketing plan

y

y

y

y

y

y

y

Evaluating the success of the marketing plan

y

(Source – as created by the author)

Budget 

Event	Year	Amount Allocated
Woodford Folk Music Festival	2018 – 2019	$ 10,000
Woodford Folk Music Festival	2019 – 2020	$ 10,000
Woodford Folk Music Festival	2020 – 2021	$ 10,000

The Woodford Folk Festival organizers are also equipped with a number of non-financial resources that will make administrating the festival in the next three years a smooth and efficient experience. There is voluntary service for example that the organizers benefit from every single year, with thousands of local Australians volunteering to help out at the event. Woodfordia Inc has full ownership of the land that constitutes the festival site and there are plenty of cars and trucks available on call for moving camping and other equipment from one part of the festival site to another for setting up the festival site (Piazzi & Harris, 2016).

The budget allocated for the Woodford Folk Festival in the next three years will be monitored and reviewed very promptly and thoroughly. Corrective action will be taken where and when it is deemed as necessary by the budget accounting professionals (Jones, 2017).

Conclusions 

The Woodford Folk Festival organizers can certainly hope to increase day tripper footfall at the festival venue in the next three years by reducing day ticket prices and increasing the arrangements necessary for making day trippers feel relaxed and at ease when attending the festival. Day trippers comprise a substantive part of the festival population and the organizers of the festival can certainly benefit by earning much more revenue than usual when they encourage day trippers to participate in the festival in large numbers (Carlson et al., 2016).

• Efforts should be made to create rest room facilities for day trippers at the festival venue as several of them are likely to be travelling with young children
• The shuttle bus services aimed at ferrying day trippers to and from the festival venue ought to be fully air-conditioned in order to enable day trippers to feel completely relaxed upon their arrival at the festival and during their departure from the festival.

S – Specific	Creating avenues to make day trippers feel comfortable at the festival
M – Measurable	· Creating a sufficient number of restrooms for the relaxation of day trippers · Introducing three or four shuttle buses for ferrying visitors to and from festival venue
A – Attainable	· Introducing rest rooms for day tripper relaxation · Increasing number of shuttle buses for day tripper transportation
R – Relevant	Getting day trippers to feel relaxed
T – Time Bound	Getting day trippers to feel satisfied after using the rest rooms and shuttle bus services

Marketing Strategies to Attract Day-Trippers

References 

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Alter, A., & Keogh, B. (2013). Some preliminary thoughts on patterns of programming in Australia’s world music and folk festivals. In Shifting Sounds: Musical Flow: A Collection of Papers from the 2012 IASPM Australia/New Zealand Conference (p. 5). International Association for the Study of Popular Music, available at https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=875677672799582;res=IELHSS

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