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The First Big Poster - Time To Retire It?


SwedgeAntilles
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Off the back of last week's poster drop the resulting discussion on its merits/where it sits alongside other first posters over the last decade or so has got me thinking;

Is it time for Glastonbury to drop the first big poster altogether?

Before you go reaching for dem pitchforks hear me out;

One of the best pieces of PR and marketing the festival does is, for me, the individual smaller stages posters in the run up to the festival itself. It 2017 this included The Park and West Holts meaning that only the JPT, Other and Pyramid didn't get their own poster drop. I think moving to a system which replaces the first big poster by individual posters for each stage would have a couple of benefits including;

Expectations are more realistic: personally speaking I know from previous experience that there's going to be more on The Park I want to see over the weekend then, say, West Holts. So when the WH poster comes up I'm prepared already that the majority of my wishlist aren't going to be on there. People would hopefully be more realistic about what they expect from each poster drop. 

Lead with the Pyramid or build to it: the Pyramid poster would be the biggie and an individual poster would allow the fest to go with that first if they've got the headliners in place early and want a big bang. Alternatively if it's one of those years when negotiations go on a bit longer they can use the rest of the stages announcements that build to it.

More announcements, more buzz: spreading the posters over 4 - 5 month period with big acts getting announced every month (rather than a big bang in March) keeps people talking. Certainly people like us.

Thought? Is it a case of 'Swedge, this idea is intriguing to me and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter' or 'worst. idea. ever'? 

 

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It's interesting, I think I like it and I do really enjoy the individual area announcements but I'm not convinced it would stop the moaning.

Part of the impact of the initial poster (apart from this year, obvs) is the many different musical styles that are on offer. I know you'll get that with The Pyramid but not as wide a spectrum.

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6 minutes ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

Off the back of last week's poster drop the resulting discussion on its merits/where it sits alongside other first posters over the last decade or so has got me thinking;

Is it time for Glastonbury to drop the first big poster altogether?

Before you go reaching for dem pitchforks hear me out;

One of the best pieces of PR and marketing the festival does is, for me, the individual smaller stages posters in the run up to the festival itself. It 2017 this included The Park and West Holts meaning that only the JPT, Other and Pyramid didn't get their own poster drop. I think moving to a system which replaces the first big poster by individual posters for each stage would have a couple of benefits including;

Expectations are more realistic: personally speaking I know from previous experience that there's going to be more on The Park I want to see over the weekend then, say, West Holts. So when the WH poster comes up I'm prepared already that the majority of my wishlist aren't going to be on there. People would hopefully be more realistic about what they expect from each poster drop. 

Lead with the Pyramid or build to it: the Pyramid poster would be the biggie and an individual poster would allow the fest to go with that first if they've got the headliners in place early and want a big bang. Alternatively if it's one of those years when negotiations go on a bit longer they can use the rest of the stages announcements that build to it.

More announcements, more buzz: spreading the posters over 4 - 5 month period with big acts getting announced every month (rather than a big bang in March) keeps people talking. Certainly people like us.

Thought? Is it a case of 'Swedge, this idea is intriguing to me and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter' or 'worst. idea. ever'? 

 

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I'm personally happy with the big poster, but I do see merit in what you're saying and I wouldn't be upset if they switched to that method. 

If they did, though, I'd absolutely drop the Pyramid poster first. Everyone is on tenterhooks waiting for the first bit of news, and I would really pity the acts on the Park stage if they dropped that first. They'd get slaughtered by the Glasto Chat brigade. Start big to appease the masses, and work your way down.

They one thing that does irritate me, is not knowing who is playing which stage. I'd definitely like that to be much more clear when the first poster is released. You're in this weird zone of being hyped for all these delicious acts, but dreading the clashes. 

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I think the way they do it at the moment is probably about right. Drop two or three names before March, including a headliner, then most of the major names in one poster, but leaving off enough of the undercard for the different stages to have their moment in the sun. This way we get the best of both worlds. 

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Since Glastonbury is just about the only festival the sells out in minutes before any announcements, then I've no clue why people complain about any poster. I also don't buy the argument that they don't announce so that the bands that are playing can get us (just Glastonbury goers) to shell out for tickets to individual gigs. So, my vote is to announce everything as early as possible so that we can explore new music and get excited for the longest time.

Also, on Glastonbury paying artists less/nothing for their "exposure" that's just wrong - if an artist is providing value, don't do the intern thing, pay them. Personally, I'd rather have bands paid their dues than money hived off for virtue signalling charity donations. Giving to charity should be a separate issue altogether - not a PR stunt.

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1 hour ago, jparx said:

I'm personally happy with the big poster, but I do see merit in what you're saying and I wouldn't be upset if they switched to that method. 

If they did, though, I'd absolutely drop the Pyramid poster first. Everyone is on tenterhooks waiting for the first bit of news, and I would really pity the acts on the Park stage if they dropped that first. They'd get slaughtered by the Glasto Chat brigade. Start big to appease the masses, and work your way down.

They one thing that does irritate me, is not knowing who is playing which stage. I'd definitely like that to be much more clear when the first poster is released. You're in this weird zone of being hyped for all these delicious acts, but dreading the clashes. 

This is more or less what I think, I think!  But especially the last para.  Like others on here, I can be a bit of a Pyramid snob and am much more likely to see someone if they're playing higher up on a smaller stage than lower on the main stages.   I'm beginning to think I have main-stage-agoraphobia type syndrome as I start worrying about when to get to the stage, where to stand etc

Edited by Beerqueen
stray word!
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2 minutes ago, Beerqueen said:

This is more or less what I think, I think!  But especially the last para.  Like others on here, I can be a bit of a Pyramid snob and would am much more likely to see someone if they're playing higher up on a smaller stage than lower on the main stages.   I'm beginning to think I have main-stage-agoraphobia type syndrome as I start worrying about when to get to the stage, where to stand etc

I feel your pain. Despite going to countless festivals/big shows, that's something I have to deal with every time!

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Can’t they do both? Emily describes last weeks poster as a ‘taster’, which I’m fine with as it just gives an overview of what’s coming but nothing more.

i absolutely love the area-by-area poster drops that the fest seem to be doing now which seem to start late April & run over the course of 4-5 weeks to late May/early June when the full list is announced. I see no reason why the stages that have previously been left out are not included in those, whereby the big final announcement is just providing day & time splits as the acts will all be known by then.

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I'm just not a fan of the poster lay out. I always thought Reading (last year aside) had the design right. Descending names on each stage with a few of the bigguns in their own fonts. Looks great and gives an idea of who is when.

I know Glasto has many more stages so such a poster would be unrealistic for t-shirts etc but they could do it for the sake of announcements.

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59 minutes ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

Thought?

I reckon the smaller number on this poster has it around spot on.

People want a 'big' first announcement, but by being smaller this time there's still plenty of meat to come even for those 5 main stages.

What's been announced so far is less than half of the acts for those 5 stages, while all of the smaller stages will have their own impact with their bigger names.

Compare and contrast to Boomtown, which announces just about all of its 'name acts' in the first announcement, and then a huge proportion of what comes after is so minor few people have heard of them.

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It's a nice idea but doubt it could work. The issue with doing it area by area is I imagine the smaller stages don't get fully confirmed until much later - if you drip fed, it would probably still be similar to what we get now. Besides, if some acts are kept off of the main poster due to wanting to sell tickets, for instance, this would just delay the whole process even more. This operates on the assumption they want to release something before, e.g. the ticket payment deadline -- if you relax this constraint then yeah, releasing the lineup much later and doing this would work well.

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1 hour ago, hfuhruhurr said:

Since Glastonbury is just about the only festival the sells out in minutes before any announcements, then I've no clue why people complain about any poster. I also don't buy the argument that they don't announce so that the bands that are playing can get us (just Glastonbury goers) to shell out for tickets to individual gigs. So, my vote is to announce everything as early as possible so that we can explore new music and get excited for the longest time.

Also, on Glastonbury paying artists less/nothing for their "exposure" that's just wrong - if an artist is providing value, don't do the intern thing, pay them. Personally, I'd rather have bands paid their dues than money hived off for virtue signalling charity donations. Giving to charity should be a separate issue altogether - not a PR stunt.

Donating £2-3 million a  year to charity is hardly virtue signalling, especially as they don’t make a big deal out of it, your average joe public has no idea they give anything to charity never mind the amount they do.

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I get where you are coming from but the whole point of the poster drop is so people can make up their minds if they are keeping the ticket or not.... So in all honesty they need to announce the headliners and main acts they have on...

Or they would have to drop about 5 lineup posters pre balance payment? 

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6 hours ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

Off the back of last week's poster drop the resulting discussion on its merits/where it sits alongside other first posters over the last decade or so has got me thinking;

Is it time for Glastonbury to drop the first big poster altogether?

Before you go reaching for dem pitchforks hear me out;

One of the best pieces of PR and marketing the festival does is, for me, the individual smaller stages posters in the run up to the festival itself. It 2017 this included The Park and West Holts meaning that only the JPT, Other and Pyramid didn't get their own poster drop. I think moving to a system which replaces the first big poster by individual posters for each stage would have a couple of benefits including;

Expectations are more realistic: personally speaking I know from previous experience that there's going to be more on The Park I want to see over the weekend then, say, West Holts. So when the WH poster comes up I'm prepared already that the majority of my wishlist aren't going to be on there. People would hopefully be more realistic about what they expect from each poster drop. 

Lead with the Pyramid or build to it: the Pyramid poster would be the biggie and an individual poster would allow the fest to go with that first if they've got the headliners in place early and want a big bang. Alternatively if it's one of those years when negotiations go on a bit longer they can use the rest of the stages announcements that build to it.

More announcements, more buzz: spreading the posters over 4 - 5 month period with big acts getting announced every month (rather than a big bang in March) keeps people talking. Certainly people like us.

Thought? Is it a case of 'Swedge, this idea is intriguing to me and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter' or 'worst. idea. ever'? 

 

This forum would go into absolute meltdown if that system was employed. We would have rumours of U2 playing on the moon streamed in live to the pyramid by the time the final pyramid poster dropped.

Plus it would make the announcement of Coldplay, Muse and the 1975 all the more disappointing after the long wait.

Edited by Dave_c
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Thing is, this format isn’t exclusive to Glastonbury - it’s how most festivals do things. Headliners + selection of big names first to get the juices flowing, and then the rest over the following months in the run up to the festival. Just because this years first batch of announced acts isn’t to everybody’s tastes doesn’t mean this format should be changed - people are gonna moan regardless. And hopefully with the next batch of acts the people who weren’t satisfied this time round will find something they like, namely more rock/guitar acts, possibly some of whom were active as bands before the turn of the millenium. 

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Imma say nah Swedge. Unfortunately, and whatever we make think, Glastonbury's for the wider population as well as us! Neil's got it right with the size of the poster, like it being a bit smaller. But then follow up with your stage / area announcements to follow as I do like those.

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