Bonnaroo And Superfly Struggle With Success

The latest issue of Fast Company magazine profiles the young founders of the massively successful Bonnaroo Festival, Superfly Productions, and their struggles with maintaining and expanding the powerful brand that they have created.

THE TEMPTATIONS OF SUPERFLY

"…Our entire promotional campaign was basically ‘Don’t come,’ " says Farman, the group’s de facto CEO whose biggest fear was that non-ticket holders would crash the party (a big problem at the original Woodstock). Bonnaroo One grossed around $9 million; a year later, Rolling Stone would proclaim it the "American rock festival to end all festivals."

"…But after a year-over-year decline that saw Bonnaroo’s attendance slip to around 80,000 in 2005–a fall of 10,000 people, with approximately $1 million in lost revenue–Superfly’s carefully cultivated cred has come up against the cold reality of commerce…"

"…Which means Superfly must evolve or risk evaporation….faced with growing competition from satellite radio, free and fast digital downloads, and the increasingly crowded festival calendar, it’s looking for nonmusical ways of reachings its fans. "We’re moving beyond the music space," says Mayers. "We want to use Superfly as the umbrella company to build our brand. Real estate, restaurants, hotels, resorts–we’re open to everything."

"…Whether Superfly can become a Hard Rock Cafe for the jam-band clan without trashing its brand depends mostly on the fans…".  (Read the full article here.)