| EVENT REPORT 03.11.08 1:06 PM |
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| Getting the Irish Up |
| Celebrating its 10th year, the Craic Film and Music Festival employed multiple marketing strategies to deliver record attendance. |
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In a city filled with film and music festivals, organizing yet another is not for the faint of heart. But Terence Mulligan, director of the Craic Festival, has been running the three-day event celebrating and showcasing Irish movies and music for 10 years. And this year's festival, which wrapped on Saturday, drew a record turnout of more than 3,000 people, up from about 2,500 in years past.
How did he do it? As with marketing any event, one must first break through the media clutter in order to sell tickets and fill seats. "We hit 'em high and we hit 'em low," said Mulligan when asked how the smaller-scale fest gets the word out. "It's multitiered, our marketing strategy." This year's efforts included commercial spots on NBC and Time Warner Cable, ads in amNewYork and The Irish Voice, and street promotion in the form of flyers and posters. Additionally, 2008 marked the debut of a sponsorship deal with amNewYork. "I think that's been effective [in] giving us more of a crossover," he said. |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | The poster for Fight or Flight, which screened at the festival.
Photo: Courtesy of the Craic Festival |
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 | Gemma Hayes's show at the Craic Fest sold out.
Photo: Courtesy of the Craic Festival |
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Helping to generate some early buzz, a soft launch of the festival on February 6 featured a benefit screening of the film In Bruges with an appearance from its star Colin Farrell. "Every year we have some major celeb like Colin show up, which is great," Mulligan said, "but the cool thing about it is we never really had to rely on it.... People know our fest is a cool thing that doesn't take itself too seriously, and Irish people like that. That's part of its charm."
A change of music venue this year also proved beneficial for the festival. After the closing of Sin-é, the previous site of the fest's music shows, Craic relocated to the Mercury Lounge. "It's actually working out much better," Mulligan said. "It's easier to get to and also has a lot more street cred with music lovers and booking agents."
Mulligan also credits short and to-the-point emails—to the festival's 10,000-strong mailing list—with bringing people out to the shows and screenings. "We've thrown a lot of parties," he said. "We try not to deluge people with a lot of emails. We try to keep it simple and say, 'Hey, three days, 24 films, 12 bands. Check out the site, there's something in there for you.' I find that less is more."
Ultimately, Mulligan cites the quality of the fest's offerings for delivering crowds. "I think first and foremost is the lineup. The lineup helps you if you do your homework like we did," he said. "When you sell out events ... for a couple of programs, it makes your marketing job exponentially easier. So that's half the battle."
—Mimi O'Connor
RELATED TOPICS
Craic Festival
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