Vanfest’s creative mix of music and guerrilla marketing leads to its biggest event yet
Vanfest in Forbes, NSW, is a textbook example of a regional festival which keeps bringing patrons back each year.
It’s as much about festival experiences and glam-camping options as the music.
“It’s basically a social outing, about hanging out with your mates for two days, with an experience that begins on the drive to Forbes, which is a beautiful part of NSW,” says founder Matt Clifton.
He reckons that this year’s event, on December 1 and 2 at Forbes Showground is heading to be its largest.
The festival grew out of a test booking acts from Sydney at his publican father Grant’s The Vandenberg Hotel. The pub sold out in two days.
Growing up in the Central West, Clifton knew that when he expanded the concept in 2014 that Forbes would work as a camping/holiday destination.
It had city slicker-friendly national parks, walking and cycle tracks, birdlife and lake wildlife and gold mining and bushranger history.
The festival added attractions as Australia’s biggest inflatable waterslide, zorb soccer field, carnival rides, wine tasting corridors, and, most successful, a pop up beach bar in the middle of the outback, which transports 220 tonnes of sand from Bondi Beach 380km’s away along with beach chairs and food from bonditony’s Burger Joint.
In 2017, the Bondi Lifeguards return to host the expanded VIP area for another year, teaching their surfing techniques on the mechanical surfboard., while The Budgy Smugglers are back with The Hot Tub Club.
Just added are Steve Mini and Tom Robinson on the motocross ramp, and ambassadors as actor Lincoln Lewis.
The glam camping options this year have a wider range of cooking facilities are added to the double size aero beds, tables and chairs, toiletries and LED lighting.
Vanfest is capped at 6000, predominantly in the 18—24 age group, with 63% female.
“It’s a very triple j audience, and the bill is very now and relevant,” Clifton points out.
The music on the main stage comes from Amy Shark, Tash Sultana, Carmada, Cosmo’s Midnight, Dean Lewis, Dune Rats, Manalion, MUTO, PLGRMS, San Cisco, Ember, FMX, Thundamentals and Wilsonn.
Home & Away and Underbelly actor Mark Furze returns from Los Angeles for a live set, along with Tigertown, Yahtzel, DJ Akouo, Luke Million, Daft Punk tribute band Discovery and local DJs Keefy and Ox.
Support from the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW and Forbes Shire Council also allow Vanfest to be more creative with its marketing.
This has included guerrilla marketing: billboards, light projections on side of buildings, skywriting, banners, beer coasters in 163 venues across NSW for six weeks straight, partnerships with local sporting teams and the use of social media to reach across Australia and push into New Zealand.
Clifton sums up, “As a result, Vanfest’s economic benefit to the region works out to $160 per person per night, so it comes to between $1.2 million to $1.6 million.”