Purpose-To explore the value in reminiscing about past festivals as a potential way of improving ... more Purpose-To explore the value in reminiscing about past festivals as a potential way of improving wellbeing in socially isolated times. Design/methodology/approach-The paper uses previous research on reminiscence, nostalgia and wellbeing to underpin the analysis of self-recorded memory narratives. These were gathered from 13 pairs of festivalgoers during Covid-19 restrictions and included gathering their individual memories and their reminiscences together. The participant pairs were a mix of friends, family and couples who had visited festivals in the UK, Finland and Denmark. Findings-Four key areas that emerged through the analysis were the emotions of nostalgia and anticipation, and the processes of reliving emotions and bonding through memories. Research limitations/implications-Future studies could take a longitudinal approach to see how memory sharing evolves and the impact of this on wellbeing. The authors also recommend undertaking similar studies in other cultural settings. Practical implications-This study findings have implications for both post-festival marketing and for the further development of reminiscence therapy interventions. Originality/value-The method provides a window into memory sharing that has been little used in previous studies. The narratives confirm the value in sharing memories and the positive impact this has on wellbeing. They also illustrate that this happens through positive forms of nostalgia that centre on gratitude and lead to hope and optimism. Anticipation, not emphasised in other studies, was also found to be important in wellbeing and was triggered through looking back at happier times.
Although there is much discussion of what makes travel experiences memorable there is less on how... more Although there is much discussion of what makes travel experiences memorable there is less on how remembering those experiences together then makes us feel and act. This empirical paper builds upon recent conceptual work in shared emotional memory, and explores the processes through which memories are negotiated and how these then affect our attitudes and behavioral intentions. Using an innovative qualitative methodology, we analyze individual and shared memories from six pairs of festival tourists. The findings highlight how wellbeing increases, through a shared reality and sense of belonging, as we negotiate an agreed memory of a past experience. The agreed memory is formed through negotiation, attunement, and emotional synchrony. This desire to agree and the wellbeing benefits that accrue strongly influence attitudes, behavioral intentions, and word-of-mouth. There are important implications for tourism practitioners in the design of experiences and in post-trip marketing activities informed by and influencing consumer memory sharing.
As festivals were cancelled or people were afraid of participating in mass gatherings during the ... more As festivals were cancelled or people were afraid of participating in mass gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, the well-being effects of festival participation were missed. How can these missed hedonic, eudaimonic or social well-being impacts be described, and how has the prolonged absence of live music events and the cancellation of the festival summer influenced attitudes towards festivals? Research data comprised nearly 13,000 responses to the Finnish Festival Barometer 2020 at a time when all the large festivals had been cancelled. Clustering the COVID-19 related questions led to three segments named: Covid-cautious, Music-driven and Experience-oriented. The findings indicate challenges for event organisers, particularly in terms of communality. The theoretical contribution of this study is in scrutinising the well-being effects of festival attendance at a time when festivals were banned. Thus, survey participants could say the factors they missed most, revealing the most important well-being dimensions for their festival attendance.
Metal music has an exceptional position in Finnish society where the genre is not marginal and th... more Metal music has an exceptional position in Finnish society where the genre is not marginal and the proportion of female fans is considerable. However, studies on female metal fandom emphasize that female fans are in the minority among the male-dominant metal fan community. This has led to conclusions that female fans are acting in a ‘masculine’ manner to avoid sexual harassment, and to get approval and respect for their fandom from male fans. Our aim was to study very feminine metal fans, trying to find out how they perceived their position among metal fans and how they demonstrated their femininity, especially in metal festivals. Based on the results, considering metal a masculine musical genre is not justifiable if the context is female metal fans, not female metal musicians. Very feminine female fans consumed a lot of live music and described metal as beautiful, emotional and empowering. They were quite independent and became more confident in their femininity as they grew older. Part of them demonstrated their self-confidence by dressing up in a very feminine – even hyperfeminine – way, and part of them dressed more modestly, seeing their femininity internally, not externally.
International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 2021
Purpose-The purpose of the study is to compare features of career development and fandom in frequ... more Purpose-The purpose of the study is to compare features of career development and fandom in frequent festival attendance in the context of Finnish music festivals. Design/methodology/approach-The study uses a mixed methods research approach and employs two theoretical frameworks: theories of career development and fandom. Findings-In frequent festival attendance, both festival career development and festival fandom are most clearly present in motivation development and social dimensions. Practical implications-Strategically, frequent festivalgoers should be considered as crucial stakeholders, who might mobilize the co-creation of a sense of community or festival brand. Originality/value-Music-related fandom has been previously investigated in relation to artists and specific musical genres, but not so much in relation to music festivals in general. Career studies, on the other hand, concentrate heavily on sports events. There is a scarcity of research scrutinizing both career development and fandom in the festival context within the same study, and festival attendance as part of music tourism is an under-researched area.
This study focuses on social sustainability of music events in adolescents' lives through their p... more This study focuses on social sustainability of music events in adolescents' lives through their perceptions and own words as they describe their live music experiences. Scrutinizing music event attendance from the social sustainability perspective demonstrates that the cultural content per se is not as meaningful as the social network that comes together in such events. The research questions were: How is social sustainability manifested in adolescents' music event attendance, and what are the implications? The research data comprised the results of a web survey directed at 15-18 year old adolescents. Bonding and bridging, as well as the sense of community, were present in adolescents' descriptions of live music experiences, producing various forms of well-being effects. The sense of belonging was almost missing from the narratives, which suggests that how adolescents consume music has a decaying interest in the grassroots culture that fosters the sense of belonging. This has major implications for the development of popular culture.
Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 2018
Festivals have seen a surge in both size and numbers leading to a more business-oriented festival... more Festivals have seen a surge in both size and numbers leading to a more business-oriented festival management. Thus, knowledge regarding the audiences and consumption of festivals deserve more attention, and monetary properties such as ticket sales and partnerships have become focal points in festival management. All these aims can be achieved by market segmentation.
Festival Barometer is a longitudinal survey focused on the audiences of the largest Finnish rhythm music festivals. Using 7797 answers from the years 2014 and 2016, the audience was segmented using personal music preferences into groups named: hedonistic dance crowd, loyal heavy tribe and highly-educated omnivores.
The members of the loyal heavy tribe are the most confident about their future participation in festivals. The hedonistic dance crowd love to have fun, and highly-educated omnivores see festivals’ values important for them. However, music preferences might not necessarily indicate the respondent’s actual taste but rather the referential group that best reflects the festivalgoer’s own identity. Additionally, the meaning of the music is highest in the youngest age group and it will be replaced with other priorities as the person gets older. This indicates that the music festival organisers are forced to attract constantly a new younger audience.
International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 2017
Purpose: Since effective and successful branding increases the popularity and loyalty of the fest... more Purpose: Since effective and successful branding increases the popularity and loyalty of the festival, and its economic success factors like positive media coverage and sponsors’ interest, it is essential that the festival brand image is credible and strong. The purpose of this paper is to focus on interpreting audience’s perceptions on a rock festival brand image to find out the factors that influence the brand image of the festival and how organisers could contribute to it.
Design/methodology/approach: Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was used in defining the factors influencing a rock festival brand.
Findings: The attending public co-produce the festival brand, and the brand image was created by the festival community where the importance of social and inclusive behaviour towards strangers was essential.
Research limitations/implications: The data were collected as a voluntary response sample which led to a biased sample. Another limitation is that the informants were asked to describe only positive incidents.
Practical implications: The festival brand image cannot be produced solely by organisers; rather, volunteers, artists and especially audience members are crucial for the success and creditability of the brand. This should be considered in marketing and event management.
Originality/value: The use of CIT in the festival brand image evaluation introduces new possibilities in the field
Festivaalibarometri 2015 on festivaalijärjestäjille tehty verkkokysely, jossa kerättiin heidän nä... more Festivaalibarometri 2015 on festivaalijärjestäjille tehty verkkokysely, jossa kerättiin heidän näkemyksiään festivaalien nykytilasta ja tulevaisuudesta. Festivaalijärjestäjien mielestä tärkeimmät kriittiset menestystekijät ja lähitulevaisuuteen vaikuttavat asiat liittyvät yleiseen taloudelliseen tilanteeseen sekä festivaalien kulurakenteeseen ja rahoitukseen. Myös kilpailu muiden vapaa-ajan viettotapojen kanssa vaikuttaa olennaisesti festivaalien tulevaisuuteen.
Festivaalin onnistumista mitataan yleensä yleisön määrällä. Kuitenkin erityisesti musiikkifestiva... more Festivaalin onnistumista mitataan yleensä yleisön määrällä. Kuitenkin erityisesti musiikkifestivaalien osalta on jo jonkin aikaa esitetty näkemyksiä saavutetusta saturaatiopisteestä etenkin länsimaissa. Tämä tarkoittaa, että tapahtumille ei riitä eikä tule riittämään yleisöä. Näkökulma korostaa tarvetta tutkimustietoon onnistuneen festivaalikokemuksen muodostumisesta ja sen tuottamiseen liittyvistä tekijöistä. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on vertailla diskurssianalyysin keinoin festivaalijohtajien ja festivaaliyleisön tulevaisuuskuvauksia. Tavoitteena on muodostaa ymmärrys siitä, kuinka kuvaukset eroavat toisistaan ja miltä osin ne ovat yhteneväisiä. Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan kummankin kohderyhmän tulevaisuutta koskevia näkemyksiä siitä, millainen on onnistunut festivaali ja mikä voisi pilata sen. Kvalitatiivisin menetelmin toteutettavan tutkimuksen aineistona käytetään 17 festivaalijohtajan teemahaastattelua ja 51 yleisön kirjoittamaa eläytymistarinaa. Tutkimuskontekstina ovat suomalaiset festivaalit. Analysoitaessa festivaalijohtajien ja festivaaliyleisöjen tulevaisuuskuvauksia johtaviksi teemoiksi nousivat yleinen taloudellinen tilanne, hinnoittelu, ohjelma, palvelut, brändi, sää ja teknologia. Niistä muodostuivat diskurssit uusiutumisesta, yhteisöllisyydestä, laadusta ja kaupallisuudesta, ulkoisista uhkista sekä teknologian mahdollisuuksista. Suomalaisten festivaalien tulevaisuuden menestystekijöiden tunnistamisessa korostuu tarve festivaalijohtajien ja festivaalikävijöiden entistä syvällisempään vuoropuheluun. Yleisöllä on jo keskeinen, molempien osapuolten tunnistama rooli tapahtuman tunnelman yhteistuottajana. Koska festivaalien määrässä ja laadussa on nähtävissä saturaation piirteitä Suomenkin kontekstissa, festivaalikävijöiden huomioiminen keskustelukumppanina myös festivaalituotannon kehittämistoimissa on tärkeää.
Tutkimuksessa ryhmitellään festivaaliyleisöä sen mukaan, mitkä kokonaiselämykseen vaikuttavat sei... more Tutkimuksessa ryhmitellään festivaaliyleisöä sen mukaan, mitkä kokonaiselämykseen vaikuttavat seikat ovat kullekin ryhmälle tärkeitä. Segmentointi on tehty vuosina 2012–2013 kerätystä aineistosta, missä 1 434 festivaalikävijää vastasi nettikyselyyn 17 festivaalilla. Ryhmittelyanalyysin tuloksena syntyi neljä kävijäryhmää: hedonistit, aktivistit, universalistit ja kaikkiruokaiset. Nuoret hedonistit viihtyvät erityisesti suurilla rockfestivaaleilla. Heille väenpaljous on tärkeää, hauskanpito olennainen osallistumismotiivi ja somen käyttö itsestään selvää. Positiiviset aktivistit ovat arvopohjaisia pienten rockfestivaalien kävijöitä. Heidän mielestään tapahtuman tulee olla ekologinen ja siellä tulee olla tarjolla lähiruokaa. Tämä ryhmä on naisvaltaisin. Sisältöorientoituneet universalistit ovat korkeimmin koulutettuja. Heille ekologisuus, tasa-arvo ja sosiaalinen oikeudenmukaisuus ovat tärkeitä arvoja. Tämän lisäksi heillä on vahva halu kehittää itseään, oppia ja nähdä uutta. Vakiintuneiden kaikkiruokaisten ryhmässä on suhteessa eniten niitä, jotka tulevat tapahtumiin yksin tai perheen kanssa. Kaikkiruokaiset ovat kiinnostuneita kaikista kulttuurigenreistä. Tässä ryhmässä on suhteessa eniten miehiä.
This study examines rock festival visitors’ discourses on alcohol consumption from the consumer c... more This study examines rock festival visitors’ discourses on alcohol consumption from the consumer culture theory (CCT) point of view. The discourses were studied using 42 experience descriptions and 24 empathy-based stories. The informants were not asked to write about the use of alcohol per se; the numerous references to alcohol were spontaneous.
Four different discourses were identified: positive discourses of social drinking and liberalism, and negative discourses of exploitation and drunkards. In the discourse of social drinking, visitors were having a good time while consuming alcohol with friends and acquaintances. Discourse of liberalism described a dream festival where everyone could drink one’s own drinks or where the licensed areas were not oppressively fenced; instead, it was possible to wander around with a beer can in one’s hand. Discourse of exploitation was, first and foremost, speech about overpriced alcohol sold in the festival area. Visitors protested against this. Discourse of drunkards described trouble-makers who drank too much.
According to the results, the rock festival organizers could improve visitor experiences by paying attention to the circumstances related to alcohol consumption
International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 2015
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to unfold factors anchored in visitors’ experiences possib... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to unfold factors anchored in visitors’ experiences possibly determinant of the success or failure of cultural festivals.
Design/methodology/approach – The studied data included 931 experience descriptions, 23 interviews and 51 empathy-based stories collected from 17 cultural festivals around Finland during the summers of 2012 and 2013. The nature of the study was exploratory, the theoretical framework was social constructionism, and the analysis was done using Foucauldian discourse analysis. The Method of Empathy Based Stories, a non-active role-playing technique, was used in the data collection.
Findings – The identified success factors were the programme, good quality food, sense of community, chill-out opportunities and building blocks of one’s identity. The factors that might cause failures were commercialised and low-quality programme, the low quality of services, commercialism demonstrated by elevated ticket and service pricing, VIP services confronting egalitarianism, crowd control and queueing and anti-social behaviour.
Practical implications – Three areas of particular interest were: how to nurture identity construction and personal well-being, how to enhance egalitarianism within the festival community, and how to promote the desired code of conduct without applying unnecessary rules and restrictions. If successful in these, the festival could boast of features that are not easy to replicate and that could create a competitive edge.
Originality/value – Empathy-based stories combined with discourse analysis contributed new insights on the issues of the success and failure of festivals. The empathy-based stories were particularly useful in retrieving informants’ perceptions of the future and for identifying factors that might cause failures.
Purpose-To explore the value in reminiscing about past festivals as a potential way of improving ... more Purpose-To explore the value in reminiscing about past festivals as a potential way of improving wellbeing in socially isolated times. Design/methodology/approach-The paper uses previous research on reminiscence, nostalgia and wellbeing to underpin the analysis of self-recorded memory narratives. These were gathered from 13 pairs of festivalgoers during Covid-19 restrictions and included gathering their individual memories and their reminiscences together. The participant pairs were a mix of friends, family and couples who had visited festivals in the UK, Finland and Denmark. Findings-Four key areas that emerged through the analysis were the emotions of nostalgia and anticipation, and the processes of reliving emotions and bonding through memories. Research limitations/implications-Future studies could take a longitudinal approach to see how memory sharing evolves and the impact of this on wellbeing. The authors also recommend undertaking similar studies in other cultural settings. Practical implications-This study findings have implications for both post-festival marketing and for the further development of reminiscence therapy interventions. Originality/value-The method provides a window into memory sharing that has been little used in previous studies. The narratives confirm the value in sharing memories and the positive impact this has on wellbeing. They also illustrate that this happens through positive forms of nostalgia that centre on gratitude and lead to hope and optimism. Anticipation, not emphasised in other studies, was also found to be important in wellbeing and was triggered through looking back at happier times.
Although there is much discussion of what makes travel experiences memorable there is less on how... more Although there is much discussion of what makes travel experiences memorable there is less on how remembering those experiences together then makes us feel and act. This empirical paper builds upon recent conceptual work in shared emotional memory, and explores the processes through which memories are negotiated and how these then affect our attitudes and behavioral intentions. Using an innovative qualitative methodology, we analyze individual and shared memories from six pairs of festival tourists. The findings highlight how wellbeing increases, through a shared reality and sense of belonging, as we negotiate an agreed memory of a past experience. The agreed memory is formed through negotiation, attunement, and emotional synchrony. This desire to agree and the wellbeing benefits that accrue strongly influence attitudes, behavioral intentions, and word-of-mouth. There are important implications for tourism practitioners in the design of experiences and in post-trip marketing activities informed by and influencing consumer memory sharing.
As festivals were cancelled or people were afraid of participating in mass gatherings during the ... more As festivals were cancelled or people were afraid of participating in mass gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, the well-being effects of festival participation were missed. How can these missed hedonic, eudaimonic or social well-being impacts be described, and how has the prolonged absence of live music events and the cancellation of the festival summer influenced attitudes towards festivals? Research data comprised nearly 13,000 responses to the Finnish Festival Barometer 2020 at a time when all the large festivals had been cancelled. Clustering the COVID-19 related questions led to three segments named: Covid-cautious, Music-driven and Experience-oriented. The findings indicate challenges for event organisers, particularly in terms of communality. The theoretical contribution of this study is in scrutinising the well-being effects of festival attendance at a time when festivals were banned. Thus, survey participants could say the factors they missed most, revealing the most important well-being dimensions for their festival attendance.
Metal music has an exceptional position in Finnish society where the genre is not marginal and th... more Metal music has an exceptional position in Finnish society where the genre is not marginal and the proportion of female fans is considerable. However, studies on female metal fandom emphasize that female fans are in the minority among the male-dominant metal fan community. This has led to conclusions that female fans are acting in a ‘masculine’ manner to avoid sexual harassment, and to get approval and respect for their fandom from male fans. Our aim was to study very feminine metal fans, trying to find out how they perceived their position among metal fans and how they demonstrated their femininity, especially in metal festivals. Based on the results, considering metal a masculine musical genre is not justifiable if the context is female metal fans, not female metal musicians. Very feminine female fans consumed a lot of live music and described metal as beautiful, emotional and empowering. They were quite independent and became more confident in their femininity as they grew older. Part of them demonstrated their self-confidence by dressing up in a very feminine – even hyperfeminine – way, and part of them dressed more modestly, seeing their femininity internally, not externally.
International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 2021
Purpose-The purpose of the study is to compare features of career development and fandom in frequ... more Purpose-The purpose of the study is to compare features of career development and fandom in frequent festival attendance in the context of Finnish music festivals. Design/methodology/approach-The study uses a mixed methods research approach and employs two theoretical frameworks: theories of career development and fandom. Findings-In frequent festival attendance, both festival career development and festival fandom are most clearly present in motivation development and social dimensions. Practical implications-Strategically, frequent festivalgoers should be considered as crucial stakeholders, who might mobilize the co-creation of a sense of community or festival brand. Originality/value-Music-related fandom has been previously investigated in relation to artists and specific musical genres, but not so much in relation to music festivals in general. Career studies, on the other hand, concentrate heavily on sports events. There is a scarcity of research scrutinizing both career development and fandom in the festival context within the same study, and festival attendance as part of music tourism is an under-researched area.
This study focuses on social sustainability of music events in adolescents' lives through their p... more This study focuses on social sustainability of music events in adolescents' lives through their perceptions and own words as they describe their live music experiences. Scrutinizing music event attendance from the social sustainability perspective demonstrates that the cultural content per se is not as meaningful as the social network that comes together in such events. The research questions were: How is social sustainability manifested in adolescents' music event attendance, and what are the implications? The research data comprised the results of a web survey directed at 15-18 year old adolescents. Bonding and bridging, as well as the sense of community, were present in adolescents' descriptions of live music experiences, producing various forms of well-being effects. The sense of belonging was almost missing from the narratives, which suggests that how adolescents consume music has a decaying interest in the grassroots culture that fosters the sense of belonging. This has major implications for the development of popular culture.
Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 2018
Festivals have seen a surge in both size and numbers leading to a more business-oriented festival... more Festivals have seen a surge in both size and numbers leading to a more business-oriented festival management. Thus, knowledge regarding the audiences and consumption of festivals deserve more attention, and monetary properties such as ticket sales and partnerships have become focal points in festival management. All these aims can be achieved by market segmentation.
Festival Barometer is a longitudinal survey focused on the audiences of the largest Finnish rhythm music festivals. Using 7797 answers from the years 2014 and 2016, the audience was segmented using personal music preferences into groups named: hedonistic dance crowd, loyal heavy tribe and highly-educated omnivores.
The members of the loyal heavy tribe are the most confident about their future participation in festivals. The hedonistic dance crowd love to have fun, and highly-educated omnivores see festivals’ values important for them. However, music preferences might not necessarily indicate the respondent’s actual taste but rather the referential group that best reflects the festivalgoer’s own identity. Additionally, the meaning of the music is highest in the youngest age group and it will be replaced with other priorities as the person gets older. This indicates that the music festival organisers are forced to attract constantly a new younger audience.
International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 2017
Purpose: Since effective and successful branding increases the popularity and loyalty of the fest... more Purpose: Since effective and successful branding increases the popularity and loyalty of the festival, and its economic success factors like positive media coverage and sponsors’ interest, it is essential that the festival brand image is credible and strong. The purpose of this paper is to focus on interpreting audience’s perceptions on a rock festival brand image to find out the factors that influence the brand image of the festival and how organisers could contribute to it.
Design/methodology/approach: Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was used in defining the factors influencing a rock festival brand.
Findings: The attending public co-produce the festival brand, and the brand image was created by the festival community where the importance of social and inclusive behaviour towards strangers was essential.
Research limitations/implications: The data were collected as a voluntary response sample which led to a biased sample. Another limitation is that the informants were asked to describe only positive incidents.
Practical implications: The festival brand image cannot be produced solely by organisers; rather, volunteers, artists and especially audience members are crucial for the success and creditability of the brand. This should be considered in marketing and event management.
Originality/value: The use of CIT in the festival brand image evaluation introduces new possibilities in the field
Festivaalibarometri 2015 on festivaalijärjestäjille tehty verkkokysely, jossa kerättiin heidän nä... more Festivaalibarometri 2015 on festivaalijärjestäjille tehty verkkokysely, jossa kerättiin heidän näkemyksiään festivaalien nykytilasta ja tulevaisuudesta. Festivaalijärjestäjien mielestä tärkeimmät kriittiset menestystekijät ja lähitulevaisuuteen vaikuttavat asiat liittyvät yleiseen taloudelliseen tilanteeseen sekä festivaalien kulurakenteeseen ja rahoitukseen. Myös kilpailu muiden vapaa-ajan viettotapojen kanssa vaikuttaa olennaisesti festivaalien tulevaisuuteen.
Festivaalin onnistumista mitataan yleensä yleisön määrällä. Kuitenkin erityisesti musiikkifestiva... more Festivaalin onnistumista mitataan yleensä yleisön määrällä. Kuitenkin erityisesti musiikkifestivaalien osalta on jo jonkin aikaa esitetty näkemyksiä saavutetusta saturaatiopisteestä etenkin länsimaissa. Tämä tarkoittaa, että tapahtumille ei riitä eikä tule riittämään yleisöä. Näkökulma korostaa tarvetta tutkimustietoon onnistuneen festivaalikokemuksen muodostumisesta ja sen tuottamiseen liittyvistä tekijöistä. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on vertailla diskurssianalyysin keinoin festivaalijohtajien ja festivaaliyleisön tulevaisuuskuvauksia. Tavoitteena on muodostaa ymmärrys siitä, kuinka kuvaukset eroavat toisistaan ja miltä osin ne ovat yhteneväisiä. Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan kummankin kohderyhmän tulevaisuutta koskevia näkemyksiä siitä, millainen on onnistunut festivaali ja mikä voisi pilata sen. Kvalitatiivisin menetelmin toteutettavan tutkimuksen aineistona käytetään 17 festivaalijohtajan teemahaastattelua ja 51 yleisön kirjoittamaa eläytymistarinaa. Tutkimuskontekstina ovat suomalaiset festivaalit. Analysoitaessa festivaalijohtajien ja festivaaliyleisöjen tulevaisuuskuvauksia johtaviksi teemoiksi nousivat yleinen taloudellinen tilanne, hinnoittelu, ohjelma, palvelut, brändi, sää ja teknologia. Niistä muodostuivat diskurssit uusiutumisesta, yhteisöllisyydestä, laadusta ja kaupallisuudesta, ulkoisista uhkista sekä teknologian mahdollisuuksista. Suomalaisten festivaalien tulevaisuuden menestystekijöiden tunnistamisessa korostuu tarve festivaalijohtajien ja festivaalikävijöiden entistä syvällisempään vuoropuheluun. Yleisöllä on jo keskeinen, molempien osapuolten tunnistama rooli tapahtuman tunnelman yhteistuottajana. Koska festivaalien määrässä ja laadussa on nähtävissä saturaation piirteitä Suomenkin kontekstissa, festivaalikävijöiden huomioiminen keskustelukumppanina myös festivaalituotannon kehittämistoimissa on tärkeää.
Tutkimuksessa ryhmitellään festivaaliyleisöä sen mukaan, mitkä kokonaiselämykseen vaikuttavat sei... more Tutkimuksessa ryhmitellään festivaaliyleisöä sen mukaan, mitkä kokonaiselämykseen vaikuttavat seikat ovat kullekin ryhmälle tärkeitä. Segmentointi on tehty vuosina 2012–2013 kerätystä aineistosta, missä 1 434 festivaalikävijää vastasi nettikyselyyn 17 festivaalilla. Ryhmittelyanalyysin tuloksena syntyi neljä kävijäryhmää: hedonistit, aktivistit, universalistit ja kaikkiruokaiset. Nuoret hedonistit viihtyvät erityisesti suurilla rockfestivaaleilla. Heille väenpaljous on tärkeää, hauskanpito olennainen osallistumismotiivi ja somen käyttö itsestään selvää. Positiiviset aktivistit ovat arvopohjaisia pienten rockfestivaalien kävijöitä. Heidän mielestään tapahtuman tulee olla ekologinen ja siellä tulee olla tarjolla lähiruokaa. Tämä ryhmä on naisvaltaisin. Sisältöorientoituneet universalistit ovat korkeimmin koulutettuja. Heille ekologisuus, tasa-arvo ja sosiaalinen oikeudenmukaisuus ovat tärkeitä arvoja. Tämän lisäksi heillä on vahva halu kehittää itseään, oppia ja nähdä uutta. Vakiintuneiden kaikkiruokaisten ryhmässä on suhteessa eniten niitä, jotka tulevat tapahtumiin yksin tai perheen kanssa. Kaikkiruokaiset ovat kiinnostuneita kaikista kulttuurigenreistä. Tässä ryhmässä on suhteessa eniten miehiä.
This study examines rock festival visitors’ discourses on alcohol consumption from the consumer c... more This study examines rock festival visitors’ discourses on alcohol consumption from the consumer culture theory (CCT) point of view. The discourses were studied using 42 experience descriptions and 24 empathy-based stories. The informants were not asked to write about the use of alcohol per se; the numerous references to alcohol were spontaneous.
Four different discourses were identified: positive discourses of social drinking and liberalism, and negative discourses of exploitation and drunkards. In the discourse of social drinking, visitors were having a good time while consuming alcohol with friends and acquaintances. Discourse of liberalism described a dream festival where everyone could drink one’s own drinks or where the licensed areas were not oppressively fenced; instead, it was possible to wander around with a beer can in one’s hand. Discourse of exploitation was, first and foremost, speech about overpriced alcohol sold in the festival area. Visitors protested against this. Discourse of drunkards described trouble-makers who drank too much.
According to the results, the rock festival organizers could improve visitor experiences by paying attention to the circumstances related to alcohol consumption
International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 2015
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to unfold factors anchored in visitors’ experiences possib... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to unfold factors anchored in visitors’ experiences possibly determinant of the success or failure of cultural festivals.
Design/methodology/approach – The studied data included 931 experience descriptions, 23 interviews and 51 empathy-based stories collected from 17 cultural festivals around Finland during the summers of 2012 and 2013. The nature of the study was exploratory, the theoretical framework was social constructionism, and the analysis was done using Foucauldian discourse analysis. The Method of Empathy Based Stories, a non-active role-playing technique, was used in the data collection.
Findings – The identified success factors were the programme, good quality food, sense of community, chill-out opportunities and building blocks of one’s identity. The factors that might cause failures were commercialised and low-quality programme, the low quality of services, commercialism demonstrated by elevated ticket and service pricing, VIP services confronting egalitarianism, crowd control and queueing and anti-social behaviour.
Practical implications – Three areas of particular interest were: how to nurture identity construction and personal well-being, how to enhance egalitarianism within the festival community, and how to promote the desired code of conduct without applying unnecessary rules and restrictions. If successful in these, the festival could boast of features that are not easy to replicate and that could create a competitive edge.
Originality/value – Empathy-based stories combined with discourse analysis contributed new insights on the issues of the success and failure of festivals. The empathy-based stories were particularly useful in retrieving informants’ perceptions of the future and for identifying factors that might cause failures.
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Papers by Maarit Kinnunen
metal fans, trying to find out how they perceived their position among metal fans and how they demonstrated their femininity, especially in metal festivals. Based on the results, considering metal a masculine musical genre is not justifiable if the context is female metal fans, not female metal musicians. Very feminine female fans consumed a lot of live music and described metal as beautiful, emotional and empowering. They were quite independent and became more confident in their
femininity as they grew older. Part of them demonstrated their self-confidence by dressing up in a very feminine – even hyperfeminine – way, and part of them dressed more modestly, seeing their femininity internally, not externally.
Festival Barometer is a longitudinal survey focused on the audiences of the largest Finnish rhythm music festivals. Using 7797 answers from the years 2014 and 2016, the audience was segmented using personal music preferences into groups named: hedonistic dance crowd, loyal heavy tribe and highly-educated omnivores.
The members of the loyal heavy tribe are the most confident about their future participation in festivals. The hedonistic dance crowd love to have fun, and highly-educated omnivores see festivals’ values important for them. However, music preferences might not necessarily indicate the respondent’s actual taste but rather the referential group that best reflects the festivalgoer’s own identity. Additionally, the meaning of the music is highest in the youngest age group and it will be replaced with other priorities as the person gets older. This indicates that the music festival organisers are forced to attract constantly a new younger audience.
Design/methodology/approach: Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was used in defining the factors influencing a rock festival brand.
Findings: The attending public co-produce the festival brand, and the brand image was created by the festival community where the importance of social and inclusive behaviour towards strangers was essential.
Research limitations/implications: The data were collected as a voluntary response sample which led to a biased sample. Another limitation is that the informants were asked to describe only positive incidents.
Practical implications: The festival brand image cannot be produced solely by organisers; rather, volunteers, artists and especially audience members are crucial for the success and creditability of the brand. This should be considered in marketing and event management.
Originality/value: The use of CIT in the festival brand image evaluation introduces new possibilities in the field
Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on vertailla diskurssianalyysin keinoin festivaalijohtajien ja festivaaliyleisön tulevaisuuskuvauksia. Tavoitteena on muodostaa ymmärrys siitä, kuinka kuvaukset eroavat toisistaan ja miltä osin ne ovat yhteneväisiä. Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan kummankin kohderyhmän tulevaisuutta koskevia näkemyksiä siitä, millainen on onnistunut festivaali ja mikä voisi pilata sen. Kvalitatiivisin menetelmin toteutettavan tutkimuksen aineistona käytetään 17 festivaalijohtajan teemahaastattelua ja 51 yleisön kirjoittamaa eläytymistarinaa. Tutkimuskontekstina ovat suomalaiset festivaalit.
Analysoitaessa festivaalijohtajien ja festivaaliyleisöjen tulevaisuuskuvauksia johtaviksi teemoiksi nousivat yleinen taloudellinen tilanne, hinnoittelu, ohjelma, palvelut, brändi, sää ja teknologia. Niistä muodostuivat diskurssit uusiutumisesta, yhteisöllisyydestä, laadusta ja kaupallisuudesta, ulkoisista uhkista sekä teknologian mahdollisuuksista.
Suomalaisten festivaalien tulevaisuuden menestystekijöiden tunnistamisessa korostuu tarve festivaalijohtajien ja festivaalikävijöiden entistä syvällisempään vuoropuheluun. Yleisöllä on jo keskeinen, molempien osapuolten tunnistama rooli tapahtuman tunnelman yhteistuottajana. Koska festivaalien määrässä ja laadussa on nähtävissä saturaation piirteitä Suomenkin kontekstissa, festivaalikävijöiden huomioiminen keskustelukumppanina myös festivaalituotannon kehittämistoimissa on tärkeää.
Four different discourses were identified: positive discourses of social drinking and liberalism, and negative discourses of exploitation and drunkards. In the discourse of social drinking, visitors were having a good time while consuming alcohol with friends and acquaintances. Discourse of liberalism described a dream festival where everyone could drink one’s own drinks or where the licensed areas were not oppressively fenced; instead, it was possible to wander around with a beer can in one’s hand. Discourse of exploitation was, first and foremost, speech about overpriced alcohol sold in the festival area. Visitors protested against this. Discourse of drunkards described trouble-makers who drank too much.
According to the results, the rock festival organizers could improve visitor experiences by paying attention to the circumstances related to alcohol consumption
– The purpose of this paper is to unfold factors anchored in visitors’ experiences possibly determinant of the success or failure of cultural festivals.
Design/methodology/approach
– The studied data included 931 experience descriptions, 23 interviews and 51 empathy-based stories collected from 17 cultural festivals around Finland during the summers of 2012 and 2013. The nature of the study was exploratory, the theoretical framework was social constructionism, and the analysis was done using Foucauldian discourse analysis. The Method of Empathy Based Stories, a non-active role-playing technique, was used in the data collection.
Findings
– The identified success factors were the programme, good quality food, sense of community, chill-out opportunities and building blocks of one’s identity. The factors that might cause failures were commercialised and low-quality programme, the low quality of services, commercialism demonstrated by elevated ticket and service pricing, VIP services confronting egalitarianism, crowd control and queueing and anti-social behaviour.
Practical implications
– Three areas of particular interest were: how to nurture identity construction and personal well-being, how to enhance egalitarianism within the festival community, and how to promote the desired code of conduct without applying unnecessary rules and restrictions. If successful in these, the festival could boast of features that are not easy to replicate and that could create a competitive edge.
Originality/value
– Empathy-based stories combined with discourse analysis contributed new insights on the issues of the success and failure of festivals. The empathy-based stories were particularly useful in retrieving informants’ perceptions of the future and for identifying factors that might cause failures.
metal fans, trying to find out how they perceived their position among metal fans and how they demonstrated their femininity, especially in metal festivals. Based on the results, considering metal a masculine musical genre is not justifiable if the context is female metal fans, not female metal musicians. Very feminine female fans consumed a lot of live music and described metal as beautiful, emotional and empowering. They were quite independent and became more confident in their
femininity as they grew older. Part of them demonstrated their self-confidence by dressing up in a very feminine – even hyperfeminine – way, and part of them dressed more modestly, seeing their femininity internally, not externally.
Festival Barometer is a longitudinal survey focused on the audiences of the largest Finnish rhythm music festivals. Using 7797 answers from the years 2014 and 2016, the audience was segmented using personal music preferences into groups named: hedonistic dance crowd, loyal heavy tribe and highly-educated omnivores.
The members of the loyal heavy tribe are the most confident about their future participation in festivals. The hedonistic dance crowd love to have fun, and highly-educated omnivores see festivals’ values important for them. However, music preferences might not necessarily indicate the respondent’s actual taste but rather the referential group that best reflects the festivalgoer’s own identity. Additionally, the meaning of the music is highest in the youngest age group and it will be replaced with other priorities as the person gets older. This indicates that the music festival organisers are forced to attract constantly a new younger audience.
Design/methodology/approach: Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was used in defining the factors influencing a rock festival brand.
Findings: The attending public co-produce the festival brand, and the brand image was created by the festival community where the importance of social and inclusive behaviour towards strangers was essential.
Research limitations/implications: The data were collected as a voluntary response sample which led to a biased sample. Another limitation is that the informants were asked to describe only positive incidents.
Practical implications: The festival brand image cannot be produced solely by organisers; rather, volunteers, artists and especially audience members are crucial for the success and creditability of the brand. This should be considered in marketing and event management.
Originality/value: The use of CIT in the festival brand image evaluation introduces new possibilities in the field
Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on vertailla diskurssianalyysin keinoin festivaalijohtajien ja festivaaliyleisön tulevaisuuskuvauksia. Tavoitteena on muodostaa ymmärrys siitä, kuinka kuvaukset eroavat toisistaan ja miltä osin ne ovat yhteneväisiä. Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan kummankin kohderyhmän tulevaisuutta koskevia näkemyksiä siitä, millainen on onnistunut festivaali ja mikä voisi pilata sen. Kvalitatiivisin menetelmin toteutettavan tutkimuksen aineistona käytetään 17 festivaalijohtajan teemahaastattelua ja 51 yleisön kirjoittamaa eläytymistarinaa. Tutkimuskontekstina ovat suomalaiset festivaalit.
Analysoitaessa festivaalijohtajien ja festivaaliyleisöjen tulevaisuuskuvauksia johtaviksi teemoiksi nousivat yleinen taloudellinen tilanne, hinnoittelu, ohjelma, palvelut, brändi, sää ja teknologia. Niistä muodostuivat diskurssit uusiutumisesta, yhteisöllisyydestä, laadusta ja kaupallisuudesta, ulkoisista uhkista sekä teknologian mahdollisuuksista.
Suomalaisten festivaalien tulevaisuuden menestystekijöiden tunnistamisessa korostuu tarve festivaalijohtajien ja festivaalikävijöiden entistä syvällisempään vuoropuheluun. Yleisöllä on jo keskeinen, molempien osapuolten tunnistama rooli tapahtuman tunnelman yhteistuottajana. Koska festivaalien määrässä ja laadussa on nähtävissä saturaation piirteitä Suomenkin kontekstissa, festivaalikävijöiden huomioiminen keskustelukumppanina myös festivaalituotannon kehittämistoimissa on tärkeää.
Four different discourses were identified: positive discourses of social drinking and liberalism, and negative discourses of exploitation and drunkards. In the discourse of social drinking, visitors were having a good time while consuming alcohol with friends and acquaintances. Discourse of liberalism described a dream festival where everyone could drink one’s own drinks or where the licensed areas were not oppressively fenced; instead, it was possible to wander around with a beer can in one’s hand. Discourse of exploitation was, first and foremost, speech about overpriced alcohol sold in the festival area. Visitors protested against this. Discourse of drunkards described trouble-makers who drank too much.
According to the results, the rock festival organizers could improve visitor experiences by paying attention to the circumstances related to alcohol consumption
– The purpose of this paper is to unfold factors anchored in visitors’ experiences possibly determinant of the success or failure of cultural festivals.
Design/methodology/approach
– The studied data included 931 experience descriptions, 23 interviews and 51 empathy-based stories collected from 17 cultural festivals around Finland during the summers of 2012 and 2013. The nature of the study was exploratory, the theoretical framework was social constructionism, and the analysis was done using Foucauldian discourse analysis. The Method of Empathy Based Stories, a non-active role-playing technique, was used in the data collection.
Findings
– The identified success factors were the programme, good quality food, sense of community, chill-out opportunities and building blocks of one’s identity. The factors that might cause failures were commercialised and low-quality programme, the low quality of services, commercialism demonstrated by elevated ticket and service pricing, VIP services confronting egalitarianism, crowd control and queueing and anti-social behaviour.
Practical implications
– Three areas of particular interest were: how to nurture identity construction and personal well-being, how to enhance egalitarianism within the festival community, and how to promote the desired code of conduct without applying unnecessary rules and restrictions. If successful in these, the festival could boast of features that are not easy to replicate and that could create a competitive edge.
Originality/value
– Empathy-based stories combined with discourse analysis contributed new insights on the issues of the success and failure of festivals. The empathy-based stories were particularly useful in retrieving informants’ perceptions of the future and for identifying factors that might cause failures.