Embracing Events: Delivering Commercially Successful Events - Keswick Mountain Festival

we're going to hear now from three very different event owners from home and away we begin with Nicola medley now Nicola's early career in brand development led her into events full-time she helped to create well-known experiences such as Taste of London The Outdoor Show who do you think you are live Top Gear live the the big festival and carfest Nicola has been the event director of kzk Mountain Festival since 2014 which is owned by Triathlon Edinburgh limited so from kzk Mountain Festival please welcome for the first time to montalto Nicola mle thank you thank you um so yes so um little old KZ Mountain Festival um part of the reason for this picture is it just I know it's obliterated by the logo but just gives you a context of the beautiful environment they're sit in so this field here is the that's where the festival the that is the festival happening and this is taken from a a peak called lrig which sits above above kzk so it just gives you a context of the beautiful environment that we are fortunate enough to be able to to be able to work in um and this is this is what it is we think of it as the sort of Ultimate Outdoors weekend um and we put on you know a whole a whole sports program a festival Village full of Traders brands have AO activities we have speakers and films we have some live music we have camping we have sort of you know sort of classic Festival but good Festival food and drink um so that's sort of what it is um a little bit of History it was launched what did I say it was launched 2007 by the kic tourism Association and their job am I getting where that prink was coming from sorry um it's it's they're they're a body that's mainly made up of um accommodation owners KZ as I'm sure you know or would imagine is is every other house or probably more than that is a guest house or a hotel or a BNB so their main objective was to create an event which put which filled up beds um and they put on a program of activities which was um from the local activity providers of which there are of which there are many doing guided walks guided mountain bikes guided cycl you know other cycling and that sort of thing it was very successful um lots of people came to kic for it um and they then it was too big for the kta to manage essentially on a volunteer basis so it was taken over by a company called a local company called Blue Stone events um they ran it for a couple of years and started to introduce um the sort of more mass mass Sports the competitive Sports rather than the guided activities and they also started to develop the festival Village on on S of crow park by the Lakers you as you saw there and they just started to do some early work early work there but again it became too big for them to them to operate um and so a joint venture was formed with a company brand events who I used to work with um and we put um invested money in promotion and in some infrastructure and in some more features in the event so we introduced a large live music stage um and a popup campsite KZ was getting full of people we we sort of needed a sort of expansion space if you like um and and as I said more money into investment into marketing um I would say brand events wasn't necessarily the natural home for the event and some of the instincts of of the company weren't necessarily the best moves for the event and in 2019 it was sold to sports events organizers um as as um Donna mentioned um Tron Edinburgh but which is essentially a company that's owned between two sports organizers and so really improved the sports delivery and also improved a lot on some of the local relations which um I won't go into detail but it had sort of hadn't been managed that well under brand events um and this is what it looked like in 2022 of course the weather's always like this um oh we wish um um so you've got sort of that's looking the other way so the lake is this side if you like the lake is sort of in front of you um and at this point we have the Lakeside stage which we we'll come on we'll come on to where where we are with that and then that skid Mount skid in the in the background so um it's it's as I say I wish you'd always look like that um it does sometimes um and so then the covid years um I overheard somebody when I was getting a coffee saying you know none of us really know what normal looks like and I'm sure we're all in exactly that boat how do you how do you track how your event doing do you look back at 2019 do you look at 2022 no idea just it's very very difficult to know so 2019 was the first event that we that I ran with the sort of the new team the the people who the people who had who had bought the event um and it for whole loads of little reasons that all added up to it it was it was the best Festival that I'd been you know from the best kmf that I'd been involved with um it just had a fabulous Vibe the weather was reasonably kind we always get every kind of weather as I'm sure you do when running your events as well um but it was then um and then obviously you know 2020 happened um I think again an an experience that I'm sure is mirrored with lots of you I think we canel it three times or postponed it three times initially we were going to run in September then we were hoping to do it in May 2021 eventually it was held in September 2021 um which on paper the financials actually weren't weren't bad because the experience that we'd had and and the fact that you're all here I presume probably had a similar experience there was very much that wave of Goodwill I suppose to events and to theater and anything that people have bought tickets which was don't take your money out if you take your money out there won't be anything left so I think only 20% of people asked for refunds every time we we canceled only 20% of people needed to change their tickets so lots of people left the money in our event and I know they left the money in lots of other events and in theater and that sort of thing so you know thank goodness for the for the for the Goodwill that was there um and also because the company that now owns the event is based in Scotland um they actually got a um a grant from event Scotland um to cover some of the sunk cost of events that had been had been canceled so we benefited from from having that from having that cash injection so on paper 2021 was was actually quite a good um Financial was a was a you know was a in the circumstances a reasonable Financial result it it just about broke even um and you know but as and as it event it was all right you know lots of people didn't come um you know that you know that were that you know that had tickets because as you know that Autumn was very busy with all those events that have been canceled there was a heck of a lot going on every every weekend um we then wanted to move it back to May May dates is better for the overall um sort of structure of the company it's KZ Mesto is the biggest event that we run um and it it's better that it's at the start of the season when because the after that there is then six months of sporting events that that then happen and is you know and KZ M's Festival would slightly get lost in in that so it's better that it's at the start of the season from a just from business structure um and that was that was all right it we had the the previous event had only been eight months ago so that sense of oh I've only just done that we put tickets on sale and you know in the October oh you know only just done that feels like it was it feel like it just happened plus if you remember the the last official covid wave was that spring the sort of February uh February time um I I don't know if you remember um it was the Commonwealth Games that year and there was a lot of chat around the Commonwealth Games with athletes who'd got covid in the spring and we're finding it really difficult to stay fit and keep fit and we had the same issue with sporting competitors at at the Mountain Festival which makes up you know the the bulk of you know a lot of what we do and I'll I'll come on to that in a second um so it was it it was quite tough it was quite it was quite a tough year um and on the back of that we um sort of said we need to stop we need to look at what we're doing we need to you know analyze the festival um and because we can't go into another Festival financially just kind of with our eyes half closed and our fingers crossed you know that's not really a viable a viable strategy we need to be clear on what we're doing um so we sort of initially it was right we're not going to do anything and then we sort of unraveled that a little bit and thought well if we don't do anything at all we know that there are some competitors who are or other event organizers that sort of would love to get their hands on the right if you like to run KZ Mountain Festival it's a pretty special place to be able to run to run the festival and if we leave a gap there's a real danger that that we lose it um but also you know as you guys all do as well you know we've all got social media media accounts that need need fueling all the time and need a conversation that's that's kept going and if you you know if you say nothing for you know six months then you know or a year then suddenly you're sort of back to building the momentum on on those again um so we took the decision to create um sort of kmf trail running weekend trail running is our sort of biggest activity um it generally attracts sort of between 1500 and 1800 people across four distances um so we we took the view to just to to run that we kept it um as a as a weekend activity because we wanted as much as we could we knew that the tourism industry would miss that weekend they tell us it's like having a third bank holiday weekend in May in terms of people's you know people you know the the take up of take up of booking so we wanted it to be to be the um to be build and to be promoted as a weekend so we although we had all the trail runs on the one day on the Saturday we had activities going on in the town we had other activities going on on the Sunday that were organized by local retailers we had stuff going on in bars that were you know on the on the Saturday night just to try and encourage people to people to spend the weekend there um and that went that went well we did actually have the perfect Festival weather um it was sort of sunny but not too hot um it was you know if you could have ordered the weather it was perfect so that's always going to happen when it's a smaller Festival obviously um and so this year we are back with a full Festival program we've we've changed it a bit and again I'll I'll I'll go through some of the some of the changes that we changes that we've we've made um and as I say it's it's difficult to kind of track because you know what are we what are we tracking what are we tracking against but it's you know we're sort of hoping for following wind and you know and it's but it's looking all right so far but I'll I'll come to that in a sec um so what did I mean this is very much a sort of overview as you can imagine and if anybody wants to talk about this in more detail I'm happy to do that but in terms of the issues um I think we felt that local relations have been a little bit up and down and as the festival has grown um it's sort of we've needed to sort of keep keep people in the festival Village that we've sort of got you know sport going on from early morning we've got a festival Village that needs needs people to kind of feed it our Traders need people to to to come through the come through the gate um and then we had music going on until half past 10 in the evening so you know the although we know from our research and from talk to people that lots of people do go into kzk as as part of their weekend the festival isn't big enough for it to be a whole weekend um spent just there but from an event perspective we were sort of needing to keep people on the site which means that you know we're not encouraging people to go into the town um and there is a much greater emphasis on sporting events and people signing up for those Mass participation events rather than necessarily the guided events that are part of the the sort of local um that are delivered by the local companies um the live music in the evening was getting increasingly difficult to police um and we could see the costs of police ing that um just going up and up and up it's it's a strange scenario when you've got um so obviously you know it was very well supported by local by local people and and why wouldn't you it's literally going on in your backyard a fairly big concert and we had you know people like you know we had Katie tunel one year we had um you know some some reasonably well-known names so why wouldn't you pay you know 30 quid and go you know go to 20 quid if you're a local go and you know see a concert that's literally your backyard but what then comes with that is the sort of comfort of being in your own backyard and yeah the kids can go and mess around and yeah the kids can go and get drunk and yeah the kids can go and throw up all over the tracks that the people are going to be running on on Sunday morning and it was like I'm not sure we want to be running that event and and and you know I mean literally there's one one point you know we say obv you know it's it's a licensed premises under under 18s have to be accompany by an adult and there these two girls at the door coming in at the gate and I was called by security to come come and talk to them and they can't have been more than 13 14 you know where's your dad always having his tea I said well look you're going to have to have you can't come in without an adult so you know can you phone your dad oh can you speak to him so I spoke today oh yeah all right I'll come up he literally ran up with his napkin still tucked into his picked into his trousers um had a ticket but obviously wasn't planning on coming till till much later he'd sort of sent his sent his girls up and um and so you know he came in and they came in and of course you know 10 minutes later there one you know he's gone back and finished his dinner and because it's in people's backyard that's kind of how people behave they wouldn't behave like that at you know manister Arena or you know they just behav like that because well it's just it's just around the corner it's just and but we know and you will all know as event organizers that you know if you know if the authorities see that getting out of hand we're the ones that you know have to police it we're the ones that you know get the book thrown at us and we could just see the cost of that going you know going getting higher and higher in terms of physical security and Personnel security and and also as Main L as a group mainly sports event organizers that wasn't an event that we that we wanted to run so one of the decisions we made was that we're not going to have that big that big concert we're going to turn the music down sort of literally and metaphorically um we know from our research that we generate about you know 1.3 million pounds into local economy through obviously people coming and staying the money that we spend with local suppliers Etc but we get no support from the local Authority and I think one of the issues is the event has grown organically and and and is now very much even though you know it rarely does more than break even um it's it's seen as a commercial event and therefore you know that it's it doesn't need seed money from the local Authority and you know and therefore even through the covid years the local Authority wasn't prepared to wasn't prepared to support us in any way um and as I've said it's it's it's an event that has got a lot of moving parts and you know at best break best breaks even which doesn't give us the money to invest in future content and and so on um so those are some of our issues but there's also a lot of strengths I mean one of the big strengths is the location you know you saw the beautiful pictures at the start you know kzk is an you know is a is a tourism honey pot it's an incredibly well- loved place the the the the surrounding G you know the surrounding geography is is the perfect playground for outdoor enthusiasts it's the you know it's the ultimate place where you want to go and fail run or you want to go and and and and and ride a sport Eve over the over the Lakeland it's a very it's an established I think this year will be the 18th 18th event um and it does have you know it does have a good following you know it's it's it's well known within its sector and it's you know within the outdoor industry um it's a very very well-known very well-known event has strong support I think the the ownership of the event there's sort of tremendous expertise in running those sporting events which are very much at the core of the core of the offer um and and I think another opportunity that we have the sort of accessibility um to to the outdoors and this sort of access for all is a very big topic within the outdoor industry um which you know Hill walking and fell running is you know historically being a very sort of white middle England sort of activity and introducing you know breaking down barriers for other other groups to get into the outdoors and to be able to enjoy the outdoors and get all the benefits of being the outdoors is a really big topic and I think there's an opportunity for KZ Ms Festival to play a really big role there um and you know we have you know we generate one and a half you know best part one and a half million economic impact you know it's a it's it's a big it's a big big event that in in the area um so we sort of came up with a sort of five-year strategy um which is to grow our Authority sort of create create more loyalty um and really have a positive impact for the visitors for the town of kzk um and for the environment that we that we operate within um and that sort of as you can see bro breaks down into sort of four strands which is the authority in the sport that we oper operate um be more inclusive as an event and and make sure that we that we enable um other groups and extend the invitation to other groups to come um that we create positive environmental impact and that we maximize our integration with the town and that we sort of ensure that the festival is going on in the town as well as it's going on on on the festival site um so this year um we're back to our sort of with I think it's 17 sporting events so we have four Trail runs three hike challenges three swims two triathlons two spores and a new a new Adventure Race we have a we run a a a primary schools sort of jlon that happens on the Friday um excuse me so lots of you know back to that we've put more emphasis on speakers so we have a we have a we have a a broader range of range of speakers in N sport Chrissy Wellington Shan Conway Cameron MCN Allen hins names if you're if you know the outdoors you probably have heard of um we launched a couple of years years ago the an accessible Adventure Zone um and that's growing and we you know will be sponsored by L National Park this year which is great we're working with with um other group with groups such as black Trail Runners to you know as I say extend that invitation to to other other other groups from other backgrounds um the live music is coming from local musicians and we have a band stand that will just be sort of acoustic and then we have a big top which is a sort of more of a sort of limited capacity covered covered venue um replacing as you saw the sort of Lakeside stage and then the Legacy project is something that we've launched to generate money through donations through through the trade through visitors we have a sort of no tea option um in the the sporting event finishes with their t-shirt then the money that we would spend on the T-shirt goes to the project um and Cat Bells is a a very sort of well-known and well-loved Peak that literally is our sort of backdrop so it's it's a peak that is um that is well known to everybody that visit visits and as I've already mentioned lots of evening activities particularly going on within within Crow Park sort of within within the town outside of crow Park um and our revenue streams sort of you know you'll be familiar with ticket sales and trade sales um Sports entries is a big part of what we do we get we we'll have about 3,000 people doing doing those various those various Sports this year that's varied I would say in 2019 it was probably close to 4,000 um so it's a bit up and down we also sort of sell Festival tickets so with your sports ticket you get access to talks and you get access to have a go activities or you can just buy a Festival ticket which means you have access to that stuff without having to do the sport um and then we also do our evening tickets as sort our evening speakers you can just buy a ticket for an evening evening speaker as well um and then in trade sales we have obviously sponsorship and then we have people who just are taking trade stands to promote brands or to sell to sell products or sell comp sell travel travel packages and so on um our 2022 sponsor lineup was very strong um I don't think this year will be as as strong as that there's quite a few um it's it's again no news to you guys it's quite tough out there I found that a lot of uh Brands and a lot of Finance directors are holding on to budgets and only releasing them on a quarterly basis so brand a lot of marketing managers out there are quite frustrated at the moment that they're not they're not being given the budgets that they that they that they did have or they're being told they can't commit to stuff yet um but you know but we are um but you know we're getting we're getting some of those so Adida teret is still with us Timothy Taylor are with us um aquasphere is one of our sponsors so you know there's quite there's quite a few on there United utilities are with us and there's still quite a few coming through but um I don't think it's going to look quite as strong as it did as it did in 2022 um and then this just we all I know have our sort of own language and I know we'll talk there's sessions about this later on but um I suppose we break down into so a title sponsor we don't have a title sponsor this year but Land Rover our title sponsor a couple of years ago and you know they very much we worked with their team very closely they very much became part of our team you know although I managed them if you like as an account all of the team worked very closely with them to deliver um on the the benefits that they wanted to and they had a sort of a very big on-site presence we then have Festival partners of whom Timothy Taylor the the brewery is probably the best example of the way in which they essentially are our there are sort of official beer of the festival they bring their their branded bars but they sort of pop up they provide bottles of beer for you know presentation packs for all the winners and bottles of beer for all the all the um sort of second and thirds and and category winners for all of the all of the Races they we use lots of Timothy Taylor bunting around the show and they just they sponsor of they they provide beer for our sort of Welcome sort of VIP welcome drinks on the Friday night so they just pop up around the festival in a really really supportive way um and we you know they they they want those opport opportunities and we give them those opportunities so as a partner you sort of see them across the FES and obviously they get promoted in advance as well we then have a number of feature sponsors um so lat stre National Park literally confirmation this week that they're sponsoring our accessible Adventure Zone um but you've got aquasphere sponsors our um sponsors our swims United utilities are a smaller sponsor for our sort of water refills um so you know and then obviously promoted in advance along with along with that feature and promoted on site as part of part of that um and then we also do a sort of associate sponsor or sometimes sort of we could call it a sort of enhanced exhibiting um which is literally sort of will you know promote in advance that this company's going to be there and we'll do competitions with them um and K Adventure is a is a is a local um actually literally based based in based in central car park in kzk is their address and they but they're quite a big um travel company um and you know Adventure travel so they you know they're always a part of the event but then pay to do to do more activity as well as just as well as just be there um and that just gives you a sense of you know you saw it in the in the picture from taken from above but you know how we organize the festival and it's um and you can see there the sort of various features that you know that we that we have and the you know where the bars are and you know the various things that that people can people can sponsor and obviously with our our start Finish Line is a you know a sort of a sort of set takes a Central Central place in the in the festival and is a real sort of place of place of lots of lots of energy and there you go that's back to the beautiful picture not obliterated by the brand logo this time there you go

2024-03-09 19:19

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