Fyre Festival was pinned as a luxury filled music festival on a private island that promised top entertainment, supermodels, white sand beaches and the fanciest cuisines. So why did this picturesque elite music experience come crashing down? Many factors were to blame for the demise of Fyre Fest. The marketing, cash flow, false promises and undertaking of a music festival of this size was too big for their cocky and ignorant founders, entrepreneur Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. Their biggest downfall; bad leadership that was money hungry and in way above their heads. They had never taken on an experience like this but were confident and resilient in their pursuit to make Fyre Festival happen. At the annual Web Summit, McFarland and Rule introduced the app, “Fyre”; a marketplace where you can book an entertainer (shown in the documentary was Iggy Azalea, Juicy J, 21 Savage and Rick Ross). The app was described as “the Uber of booking talent”. You could book these entertainers in a way that couldn’t be done as easily before and Fyre Festival was birthed as a way to promote the app. The marketing for the festival was filled with false promises. Fyre’s visual marketing was beautiful and promised an exclusivity that was proven hard to attain. During a promotional shoot in the Bahamas Fyre had flown out various top models to sell a dream. McFarland said, “We’re selling a pipe dream to your average loser. Your average guy in middle America.” He sure was; their marketing was genius in the beginning. Fyre essentially took over Instagram with their first initial posts. Hundreds of celebrities, socialites and influencers were posting about Fyre festival and the buzz was out; they had done their job and very well at that. When you send out marketing though, you must be able to produce the product and deliver what you promise. They couldn’t even deliver one of the most basics of a music festival – music. The initial promise was to have the festival on Exumas; an island once owned by Pablo Escobar. McFarland himself stated that they had purchased the island; which they hadn’t. When it lacked proper infrastructure, Rule and McFarland went ahead and launched their website and started selling tickets promising an idea they had not yet planned for, let alone had an island for. Within 48 hours they sold 95% of their tickets to the festival. McFarland was money hungry and started to promise things he couldn’t deliver. They couldn’t physically fit all these people on Pablo Escobar’s island. In addition, from a “bio-waste standpoint” there was no way they could house all these people and rid of the waste they would produce over the weekend. The false promises didn’t end there. Fyre promised incredible ticket packages with round trip airfare and tickets to the festival in addition to stays in rustic, furnished tents, bungalows, homes and yachts. The team wasn’t capable of producing for not only the guests, but for the performers as well. Almost $4 million was spent on talent, but this was just to cover their booking fees. What the team failed to realize was the various elements that go into a performance; lighting packages, sound systems and other basic necessities that a performer would get when they showed up to a venue. When one of the Fyre team members and his wife unsuccessfully tried to stay in a tent on the island, he raised his concerns with the team and was dismissed. His opinions were dismissed, as well as his employment with Fyre among many others in February/March with a slated Fyre festival for April. McFarland either didn’t realize he was way in above his head, or he just figured he could keep pressing on and everything would figure itself out. He wasn’t working as a team player because he wasn’t listening to his team. Various Fyre employees had started to ask questions, raise concerns and leave the company, but McFarland pressed on with his plans. The time frames were also very short; McFarland went ahead and hired a new team just 45 days prior to the festival. Clearly planning was not his strong suit because they just didn’t have the time to produce the product and he didn’t have the project $38 million to cover the costs. The team had multiple concerns over their own paychecks. Some were paid with a bag full of cash, some weren’t paid the correct amount, and some weren’t paid at all because in the end the cash flow wasn’t there. “The biggest event of the decade” was something McFarland promised. Where he went wrong was promising something that he could not deliver. Six to eight weeks out the team had to find a new island because the real owners had pulled out for different reasons. This was the beginning to the end, but again they pressed on. For posting about the festival, 250 influencers were promised a one bedroom three-person villa on the beach that unbeknownst to them didn’t exist. When the first weekend of the festival opened guests were left in disbelief. The guests were loaded onto commercial airplanes when most were promised a private jet. While guests were finding their way to the Bahamas the biggest performer, Blink-182 pulled out. While some guests were brought to a party on the beach, others went to the campsite where they found their “rustic” tents soaking wet from rain the night before. Guests on the beach were held for six hours without answers about their accommodations. Soon they were filed to the campsites by yellow school bus. The news called it an “island getaway turned disaster”. They were greeted by white FEMA tents, long lines, lost luggage and food that looked like it wouldn’t have even been found in a prison.
In the end, the biggest sufferers were the people of the Bahamas. The men and women who labored for the festival – arranging, building and cooking – and were hardly paid. Fyre Festival promised a reoccurring festival for five years, the creation of hundreds of jobs for Bahamians, thousands of tourists and hundreds of millions of earned media impressions that would translate into future revenue, and the ability to bolster Bahamas tourism efforts at no cost to the Bahamas. Homes were rented, hotels were arranged and very few of these people saw a dime. In addition to the Bahamians there were genuine employees of McFarland that had no idea he was in so far over his head. Things started to crumble, and the event was ultimately cancelled. The cash flow wasn’t there, the marketing was filled with false promises and the creators undertook something that they weren’t able to provide.
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I really enjoyed Neverthirst's Instagram account and their take on bringing water solutions to North Africa and Southern Asia. What makes their Instagram account so special is that they use the images to express details of their organization rather than words. For example, the Instagram post detailing the 1,000 bio filters funded in Cambodia. This number was expressed in both words, and in the picture of glass of dirty, unfiltered water next to the glass of filtered water. This tactic is extremely effective in showing how important their nonprofit actually is. The account is also effective because they are able to post pictures of the people who are being served by their nonprofit. I also really enjoyed To Write Love on Her Arms' account who use their time supporting people who are struggling with depression, addiction and self-harm. This is a great nonprofit that has a huge following. All of their Instagram posts are very bold, clean, and attention grabbing. The images are crisp and they each are accompanied by a detail or moving caption. They post quotes, events, merchandise, and share personal stories in a way that leaves the audience wanting more. Most of what they post, merchandise included, sends a positive message to their audience that is both moving, and in some cases, life saving. The most important elements for a successful Instagram account are images, captions & tags, and followers. Images are obviously a huge part of having an Instagram account. One would most likely want their images to be bright, have good lighting, and depict something necessary to their business or self. The images that are most moving are those that tell a story whether that be of a person, object or a quote. Captions are another huge part of Instagram. This is where you can also tell a story or detail a message you are trying to convey to your audience. Tags are a great tool for Instagram because they help you reach a broader audience. Lastly, followers are a huge part of Instagram. If you don't have followers then you have no one to view your content, comment on your Instagram's or create a larger following by having their followers tag other people. I would only follow a nonprofit that I was either interested in or that posted pictures that I found interesting. I don't see myself following an account of something I don't find interesting because I wouldn't necessarily engage with that account; hence, it would be pointless for me to follow them. Even if I like an account I still may not follow it. For example, I don't think I would follow @neverthirst_water because I am not interested in their nonprofit ideals. I would, however, follow @TWLOHA and this is not necessarily because I find their nonprofit interesting, but because I like the images they post and that I could see myself purchasing their merchandise. There are many things I can do that will translate from what I have learned with the nonprofits in the article, 6 Nonprofits on Instagram who are Getting it Right. With Completely Kids, I think the greatest asset I have is the kids. Kids make for great, bold, fun, and moving images. Images of kids can be a great way to connect to peoples hearts because every one was a kid at one point in time in their life. I would also be able to directly show who benefited from Completely Kids to have a better impact on my followers. It will also be important to create brand hashtags for people to tag, thus creating a larger following. Images of work actually being done in the office will also be good to post to, again, show the impact the nonprofit will have on the community; even if that means posting a picture of the trash bins filled with food to go home with the kids on the weekends.
In August of 2003 I was a freshman in high school. I was sheltered from having attended a private, catholic school for nine years, but made the decision to attend a public high school where I was most definitely no longer sheltered. I wore a pink Tinkerbell shirt to orientation for goodness sake. The Tinkerbell shirts soon went away and I was becoming a more mature 14 year old (insert laugh emoji here). This was the year I first started using social media, besides having used email and AIM. I created my Myspace account and from then on have been using some sort of social media consistently since then. Currently and regularly I use Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest. I do have Twitter on my phone, but I rarely ever use it or open the app. Out of those main 4 I use Facebook the most. This is because of the number of people I am connected with, the updates I see on the lives of my friends and family members, and the ability to sell items on buy/sell/trade groups. I use Instagram mostly just for the filters so I can then upload them onto Facebook and I almost never scroll through my Instagram feed. I check Snapchat once a day (more if I am sent something) and I send snaps throughout the day maybe once or twice a week. I check Pinterest maybe twice a week, but I never post anything or create boards. I used Twitter and Myspace years ago, but have stopped for various reasons. I stopped using Myspace because I replaced it with Facebook. I stopped using Twitter because Facebook sort of took over my social media life; I didn’t have much of a reason to keep scrolling through Twitter. What I like about social media can be explained very easily. I like how it is instant and in the moment. My immediate family lives in California so when my mom goes on a hike with my twin sister I can see pictures as they’re hiking through Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat. This is the main reason why I like social media. It also allows me to feel close to my family when they are so far away. Social media makes it easy to view and send pictures and to stay updated on the lives of those who you may not see or talk to every day. While I do like social media, I also have problems with it. I don’t like how I am constantly checking Facebook. The app is so easy to access that anytime I am bored I can just refresh my feed to view something new. I try leaving my phone in the other room or deactivating my Facebook page, but that never lasts long. Social Media has changed communication for me by making my communication much less verbal. If I see something at the store that my boyfriend might want I will snap him a pic of it and tell him to let me know if he wants it. If I haven’t talked to my sister in a few days I will snap her a pic of something in my life or post something on her Facebook wall instead of picking up the phone to call her. When I am selling something on one of the buy/sell/trade sites I do all of my communication through messenger rather than on the telephone. Is it easier? Maybe. My top two sites I use right now are Facebook and Pinterest. I should also classify Instagram as one of my favorites because this is where I put filters on pictures to send to Facebook. My boyfriend and I are about to start renting a three bedroom house and each get a room to design for ourselves, plus our bedroom so Pinterest has been a huge help to me in that department. Facebook on the other hand seems like it has just become a part of my life and I’m okay with that. It is somewhat hard to think about how many times I check Facebook, but if I can see pictures of my dad finishing his marathons or videos of my one year old cousin walking then I can live with how many times I open the app. When I was younger I used social media more for myself. I would post pictures from parties in high school and update my Myspace “top eight” when I had gotten into fights with friends. Now, I use it more to see what everyone else in my life is up to.
I really just want to get a more clear understanding of using social media in a professional manner. I definitely need to clean up my LinkedIn and this class is a sure way of doing so. I have a friend who was a social media manager for a website where people would post a picture of something they wanted and others would “hunt” and find where they could buy it. She was always holding contests, updating content on their social media sites and live streaming from conferences or events she was attending. I think getting a more clear understanding of using social media professionally might help me to decide on what career path I might take. I am in this class because of a few reasons. One, I love learning about any topic related to journalism. I sat with my adviser trying to create my fall 2014 schedule, and I asked her if I could take all journalism classes. She laughed and said no. Two, I had the pleasure of interviewing Carol for an article I was writing for the Creightonian last semester, and she was wonderful. I hadn’t taken any of her classes yet, but enjoyed that short period of time we spent together. Lastly, it was a credit I could use to fulfill my journalism requirements. My experience with media started very early on. When my twin and I were around 4 years old we got our first mac desktop; although we usually only used it for school work and playing games. Now, I am most often connected to social media – Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. I get all of my news from my phone through the weather channel, CNN, and my hometown paper the Marin Independent Journal among many other avenues. I tend to get a lot of news and information from Facebook. The news and information might not always be true so I usually Google the news and get the information from a credited source. I do find myself always on a screen when I am bored. Whether it’s my laptop, iPad, or iPhone I'm constantly checking them. I gravitate more towards my phone for quick information because of the easy access. I use my laptop strictly for school work, and I use my iPad for watching television shows on mediums such as Netflix and Hulu Plus. The only part of news media that frustrates me is when it comes to reporting on celebrities. You always see “from a source” who is usually anonymous. It bothers me how people can write about someone’s life when they essentially don’t have all the facts. This has been a huge debate from my peers and me when it comes to Queen B (Beyonce) and her husband Jay-Z. There have been numerous reports that he is cheating, and that they are getting a divorce. As a huge Beyonce fan I dispute any of these claims. I think that news media is all about getting viewers or getting someone to view their blog or webpage. On the other hand, I think that journalists, or people that refer to themselves as journalists take their job more serious. Journalists check the facts and ethically won’t print something that isn’t true. I have zero experience with programming; however I am in a Computers and Scientific Thinking class so as the semester goes on I will have more of an idea on what programming is all about. I think it’s awful how connected we are as a world, especially in America. Children especially are glued to the television, their tablets, and want a cell phone at a younger age. Instead of playing with sidewalk chalk outside or having a lemonade stand during the summer I’ve seen a lot of children rather stay inside glued to their devices. I think the only benefit of having the world so connected is that we get information incredibly fast. When there is a tornado watch, an alert can be sent to your phone from the Weather Channel. When there is an Amber Alert, the alert is directly sent to smart phones. Technology is only becoming more advanced.
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PaigeCreighton University Archives
December 2017
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