By now, most people have heard of the infamous Fyre Festival. A music festival which promised the luxury of Pablo Escobar’s private island, exquisite private villas, and pristine white sand beaches. What was delivered was nothing near what was expected, essentially resulting in guests who had paid upwards of tens of thousands of dollars stranded in a foreign country with no place to stay and no way home. But we aren’t in a class about event planning. The question I ask is, how can so many people be so incredibly sold on a product which didn’t exist?
Billy McFarland, Co-Founder of Fyre Festival, had always been extremely skilled in selling. He had sold those around him as well as those who were buying into the idea that this “Festival” could be pulled off. It could not. However, Billy knew that through his charisma and charm, he would be followed essentially without question until the end. It seems as though Billy himself may have believed that the festival could be done, or maybe he knew it would be a disaster all along and truly was simply scamming his customers. Regardless of his intentions, Billy knew how to sell.
McFarland understood how easily a millennial could be sold on a dream. He had been doing it even before Fyre Festival with a credit card company he founded called “Magnises”, a company which bolstered itself with images of luxury, high fashion, and partying. Billy knew how to appeal to the deep desires for luxury and acceptance that many entitled millennials posses. He understood the “hurt” or perceived hurt in his potential customers. Of course, Billy then leveraged that hurt through intense social media marketing, showing how his services provide the ultimate luxury, lavish experiences for only the best of the best.
Sure, both Magnises and Fyre Festival are perfect examples of how possible it is to sell someone essentially on a dream. But, they are also both examples of how there must actually be a tangible, real product to back up that dream. In both the cases of Magnises and Fyre, the product was merely an illusion, a ghost of a good product which was sold to customers. As a result, Billy will be in jail for 6 years. In this case, the salesman was not able to deliver the promised dream, but this example simply serves to show how impactful tactics such as this could be with an actual product to back it up. A company which is able to appeal to the deep hurts of its customers and delivers a good product is one that succeeds. This will not be the last time someone attempts to sell us on a dream.
testacr22