Battle of The Bands Huddersfield

This year, as a ‘Managing the Live Event’ assessment, I had the task of planning my own event with some group members and then bringing all the ideas to life. The idea that was implemented was ‘Battle of The Bands Huddersfield’.  This live event consisted of three student bands that were chosen through a Facebook poll with over 1000 results.  The event was hosted in The Parish, a local bar/venue in Huddersfield.

The 3nine8 starting off the night and building tension

One of the touch points of the event was most definitely just before the first band started playing, as everything was in place. This was the ‘clearance’ and most definitely showed that all group members knew what they were doing and helped engage the audience; showing them a clear route of where they could go, what they could do whilst waiting for the first band and also signalling when the ‘experience’ was starting. This helped build tension, which is definitely needed for a ‘Battle of The Bands competition’. Other moments that engaged the audience was during voting and the announcement of the winners.

Personally, I think the pre-event experience was the most challenging and also the most successful part, when it came to consumer engagement. This is because the Facebook poll that was created to choose the top 3 bands had a lot of attention, as people from all over Huddersfield (not just students!) took part in voting. A Guitar Hero stand was also implemented in the Student’s Union, to try and promote the event and increase sales. This was useful as it created another experience for consumers and brought some fun into a typical day for a University student. The stand was very popular and many students wanted to participate. Many students highlighted that it was bringing them back memories when they used to play the game. This form of engagement is by far one of the most powerful that I had seen during our promotion periods. This is because the use of something nostalgic helps the consumer remember their past involvement with the game and the one they are currently experiencing; therefore leaving them with something they can talk and think about after playing; thus leading them to thinking about our event and buying a ticket. The stand was a form of sensory marketing and consumer motivation, as it engaged the individuals with the use of some of the human senses and also it gave them a sense of belongingness; making them feel valued by us.

A consumer playing Guitar Hero on our promotional stand

 I feel that for the actual live event itself, as the event manager I was not in full control of the event experience. This is because of the nature of our event. Our live music event is also controlled by the sound engineer, as they created the ambiance through sound their chosen lighting. It was also partly controlled by the bands themselves,  as the engagement of the consumers would have depended on their choice of songs on the night. Lastly, it can be suggested that the whole event experience could have been controlled by the audience, as they were in charge of picking the bands and those who attended, as their personalities and attitudes towards the bands that were playing and even the organisers would mean the experience that was planned out could be changed. However, as we organised and knew the set lists for the bands and collected enough market research about our target audience, this was not an issue and lead to a very successful night.