Fyre Festival was a huge success...
...as far as its promotional strategy was concerned.

If Fyre festival had delivered on its promises, the marketing campaign would
have become legendary! As we all know, it fell a long way from living up to
the hype of the campaign. But what has it done to the glamorous world of
Instagram and the influencers that exist in this domain? Honestly?
Regardless of pending lawsuits, probably nothing. It does, however, put the
fragility of this microcosm under the microscope. It highlights the superficial
and detached relationship that these influential stars have with the brands
they are paid to promote, how plainly transactional their services are, and
how disastrous it can be when that arrangement implodes.
But who was more duped? Did the influencers become the influenced, or
were they complicit for their role in the deception?
The stars certainly weren’t the only ones convinced by Billy’s story. Despite
hordes of impossibilities, industry professionals in their droves bought into
the possibility that this event could be rocketed into reality. And was it
really so impossible? I have seen many an event build phase descend into
chaos when a series of unfortunate circumstances hit a show. The
difference, perhaps, is that while that scenario might require all your crew
to exhibit (almost) the same dedication as an Andy King, there is a ground
work of planning, knowledge and due diligence to fall back on. There is a
real world, not just the delusions of a millennial entrepreneur who thinks all
you need is an idea, publicity, and that money can solve the rest (even
when that money doesn’t exist).
So often brands strive for social media fame, it is a target, an end goal,
something that needs cracking in order to gain access to a lucrative
audience for our brand. But, as marketers, there is a lot that we can learn
from Billy McFarlane.

1. Create content, but ensure you have enough substance to live up to the hype
2. Engage influencers – but remember the transactional nature of the services they offer
3. Build your brand in the real world, co-ordinate your efforts and create genuine, real-life, connections too

Ultimately, in the real world, the Billys get found out.