In the digital age, analog is alive and well. I spent a day at Rock en Seine - one of France’s main music festivals, held in Parc of St Cloud, a few miles from the centre of Paris - and most of what was communicated was very rooted in analog.
Here’s my TOP 9 things of note, other than the music.
1. ROCK EN SEINE LOOKS GLOBAL
Many of the scenes I came across at Rock en Seine are the same I have seen in most other music festivals I have either seen or been anywhere in Europe and probably the globe. The bands lineup. The stages. The crowds. Art. The bars. Heineken. Plastic cups.
2. ROCK EN SEINE LOOKS VERY LOCAL
Two 20 year old students sipping champagne is a scene that felt very French and it did not seem out of place – as I feel it would have done at Pinkpop, Rock am Ring, Reading or even Glastonbury.
3. COMPETITIONS RULE
The most effective ways to capture attention of ‘youth’ seems to be very analog, interactive and to give the chance of walking away with a freebie.
Howard Luck Gossage lives. The way of doing marketing that was his trademark was being applied by many brands at Rock en Seine. The most popular way to attract 18-25s seemed to be COMPETITIONS. Levis did it, so did Samsung ; so did the drink+driving campaign ; so did SFR ; so did X-Box ; so did at least 3 other organizations that I cannot remember
4. RECORD COMPANIES LOVE LEAFLETS. FESTIVAL GOERS HATE LEAFLETS.
Leaflet distributors looked to me like people playing catch, as they almost had to run to put the leaflets into festivals goers’ hands as these approached the entrance trying to avoid them. When they accepted them, they threw them almost immediately on the floor. Two clearly frustrated distributors handed me a bundle of the same leaflet to clearly get rid of it and move from brand employees to festival goers as quickly as they could.
5. FAST FOOD HAS DIVERSIFIED AND GONE GLOBAL
A pleasant surprise was the food. It was a fantastic feat for the eyes, the nose and, once I got to the front of the queue, the tastebuds. I was impressed by the variety. Chinese, Japanese, Creole, Grilled anything, pasta, pizza, crepes, tartiflette (fantastic) ; toulouse sausages (even better), baguettes, combinations of fruits smoothies, chips, kebabs, ethiopian, andouilette (for strong stomachs only), sweet fried stuff. Tastebuds heaven
6. GUITAR HERO ROCKS
My prize for best placement of any brand at the event goes to XBOX’ Guitar Hero. They had set up a stand with about 20 machines and after having given your details for a competition, you got the chance to unleash your inner rock star, as they say on the tin.
7. PROMO MATERIAL NEEDS POINTLESS CREATIVE USE TO GAIN VALUE
My favourte site of the day was the use of the Virgin Radio inflatable sticks. Someone turned them into a dog and used the free Samsung necklace as a leash to tie it to a tree and leave it there. Priceless.
8. THE MOBILE PHONE CREATES SOUVENIRS
Clearly everybody was texting, talking, and taking picture during the whole day, but when it got dark and Justice (a french electronic act) took to the stage the mobile phones came out in numbers to create souvenirs: personally recorded moments of the concert. If my clip is anything to go by, just like holiday videos, it feels very personal but likely to be near identical to most of everyone else's. Also the experience of taking the film as a souvenir to me was much more exciting than watching it days late
9. AMIE WINEHOUSE DID NOT DISAPPOINT…SHE CANCELLED
As I walked to the big stage where she was supposed to perform at 22h15 all I saw were the screens that until then had been used to enrich the experience, used like the static boards announcing the competitions.
Like Amie Winehouse, in the digital age, digital had gone analog.
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