In Twin Lakes, WI, Country Thunder music festival once again drew thousands of fun-loving concertgoers to revel in the shared appreciation for the heart of American music. With headliners Sam Hunt, Dierks Bentley, Toby Keith, Brothers Osborne, and other popular artists like Midland taking the stage, it was a weekend packed with fan favorites.
The scent of corn dogs and chicken nuggets wafted through the air as smiling and laughing country music fans traipsed through the venue and sipped beverages. Country boots adorned the attendees along with plenty of cowboy hats and flannels. The environment was the perfect locale for new and growing businesses to set up shop with their goods.
Many vendors attended this year’s event to partake in direct marketing with the country music community. The partners at the event included: Twisted Tea, Uber, Miller Lite, Gary Lang Auto Group, Mike’s Hard Lemonade Co., Pepsi, Walgreens, Blue Chair Bay, FM106.1 – Milwaukee’s Best Country!, BIG 95.5 – Chicago’s New Country, Q98.5 – Rockford’s New Country, 102.3 – The Coyote, 96.3 Star Country – Madison’s #1 For New Country, 94.5 KTI Country, 99.9 FM WJVL – All the Best Country, KAC, Rockstar Energy Drink, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Fireball Whiskey, Aurora Health Care, and Patron Transport Services, LLC. The businesses certainly increased brand awareness by passing out samples and selling their products.
Branding efforts at music festivals is a modernized and arguably more effective alternative to other advertising tactics such as sending out mailers or email newsletters. Meeting with potential customers face-to-face and presenting a product that fits the target niche will convert more real-life loyal followers. It is a smartly targeted means of getting a new business publicity or spreading an existing one to new markets.
There are music festivals to fit every type of company’s lifestyle, whether that be western/country, hipster, artsy, street, hip hop, or a fusion of each. Small businesses would do well to partake in this viable marketing medium, and companies at Country Thunder shared their on-site insights into their experiences at the event with Home Business Magazine.
ConcertAlien.com
HBM: What inspired you to attend Country Thunder to display your product?
ConcertAlien.com: “We’ve been trying to participate with Country Thunder for quite some time. It’s our first year here. We do Luke Bryan’s Farm Tour every year. We do several others in California, Pheonix, and so forth. This is our first time here so we’re excited about coming here.”
HBM: What inspires you to attend country concerts specifically?
ConcertAlien.com: “The country audience is very accepting and friendly and open to the stuff we do. We do glow products and chairs. A little bit of everything. We’re actually a company that puts on concerts on our own too. We do teen concerts, like Disney artists, Nickelodean and American Idol and all that. When we’re not doing our own shows, we come out as vendors at these shows.”
HBM: How long have you guys been in business?
ConcertAlien.com: “We started this in about 2010. It’s my company. My daughter, son and I run it. It’s definitely a home business. We worked in Illinois for awhile, we lived in Effingham for three years and started the company out of there. Now we live in the Dallas area.”
HBM: It’s a win-win because you’re here showing your product and also listening to your favorite music.
ConcertAlien.com: “Absolutely. Obviously we see a lot of the same artists over and over again. In a couple of weeks we’re getting ready to do Country Jam in Columbus, Ohio. Then we’re doing Luke’s Farm tour in September/October.”
HBM: Would you come back to Country Thunder?
ConcertAlien.com: “Sure, it’s been a really good experience.”
GypsySoul Food Truck
HBM: Tell us a little about how you started your business.
GypsySoul Food Truck: “Essentially I was married and I worked a corporate job for about ten years and I hated it all. I got divorced, moved away, and I decided to start a food truck. I bartended at a golf course and drove around on a golf cart. Did that part-time too. I’ve been in the business my whole life. My dad had a meat market. I did it for a very long time. I’m not a professionally trained chef or anything like that. I’m a person who likes to eat. There’s nothing wrong with that! We mostly do bluegrass festivals, a lot of Grateful Dead-esque shows. We’ve done work with Vibe Nation. We travel to, and go all over the country in Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois. We go to Harmony Park like three times a year. We try to use many local farmers as well.”
HBM: Tell us about why your company is a hit at festivals.
GypsySoul Food Truck: “The clean food movement is really starting to become a thing. People are really thrilled when they see a place that doesn’t have deep-fried stuff. It’s like, “I don’t have to eat a corn dog? I can get lettuce! They have brussel sprouts? Get out of here.” It’s a cool thing. We try to use as many local farmers and CSAs as we can when stuff is seasonal. Our base kitchen is at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in East Troy. They research for biodynamic farming and organics. It goes along with our mission too, which is pretty cool. We deal with a lot of local businesses up there. This is my fifth season. I’ve had a lot of expensive learning curves.”
HBM: Do you have a lot of independence with a food truck business?
GypsySoul Food Truck: “The nice thing about this is that I can cherrypick the shows that I want to do. I did this show two years ago, and it’s fifteen minutes from home. We decided to give it a try and see what happens. We’re positive that tomorrow and Sunday will be really busy days. Last time we were here, it totally was.”
Pink Rack Project
HBM: What brings you here to Country Thunder?
PinkRackProject.com: “We are a breast cancer foundation. We travel doing shows and festivals to raise money for women who are battling breast cancer. Instead of research, it goes directly to the families. We sell our products. That’s how we fundraise. Through cash donations we give back to the families for gas, groceries, medical bills and personal bills.”
HBM: Why do you feel like festivals are a smart avenue for your company’s marketing?
PinkRackProject.com: “It’s the country lifestyle. The country brand. We do the “I love my rack” and “I love her rack”. We’re very country-oriented. I am a hunter so I founded this. That’s where the racks come into play. It’s a play on words. Country festivals are a great place. They’re great people and country lovers. They love this. They’re supportive of it. They love the country music. They love hunting. They love fishing. It’s a lifestyle.”
HBM: Are you going to any other festivals after this one?
PinkRackProject.com: “After this, we go to a festival in Ohio. We travel all over. Our next festival is in Panama City.”
HBM: How do you feel about your experience at Country Thunder?
PinkRackProject.com: “I love Country Thunder. It’s a fantasic festival. We’ve been to both their Arizona and Wisconsin locations. We’ve never done the Canadian ones because it’s so hard to travel that far. It’s a fanstastic event. They always have great people here. It’s fun; the organizers are top-notch. Our contact is amazing. Fantastic venue.”
Bierstick
HBM: Tell us a little about your startup and how it launched.
Bierstick: “We started back in college. I was a sophomore. We were engineering majors. We came up with a design, a prototype. The beginning of it was kind of a joke. We used to use it as a pool toy, sport kind of thing. Then people asked where we got it from. They wanted to know more about us as entrepreneurs. We decided to make something of it. I designed it myself. Me and my two brothers. We designed it, came up with a prototype, and went from there.”
HBM: How long has your company been around?
Bierstick: “We have been mass-producing for about four years now. We thought this was the perfect atmosphere because everybody likes to drink beer around here and have a good time. Country music is the perfect fit for us.”
HBM: What brought you to Country Thunder specifically?
Bierstick: “My brother has been here for the past four years. He just came here by himself all the time to have a good time with his friends. He’s had everything good to say about it.”
HBM: How was the process of getting set up to show your product at Country Thunder?
Bierstick: “It was really smooth! Good people. Everybody had a good time. It was easy, fast quick. We’ll be back next year for sure. With the success we’ve had here, we’re trying to find other places too. This is perfect.”
RDNKN
HBM: What brings you here to Country Thunder?
RDNKN: “We’re a new brand. We’re here so people can see our company RDNKN. This is us. I’m a wholesome, country music fan for sure.”
HBM: How did you launch your brand?
RDNKN: “I live in the city. I’d go out on the weekends to have fun and ride my dirt bike. I would always hashtag ‘rdnkn’. It was a thing I did. You know how hashtags were always ‘rdnkn’ broken down? Then, I bought a big jeep. So I thought, ok I need a wicked license plate for that. RDNKN! It wasn’t taken anywhere! It was taken nowhere! When I Googled it, there was nothing. Everything you see that’s RDNKN is me.”
HBM: So your items are geared towards each state?
RDNKN: “Obviously the plates are RDNKN and for each state. People can order groups of the products or have them specialty made.”
HBM: How has your experience been at Country Thunder?
RDNKN: “Great. I’ve done all of them. I did the Arizona one, the Candian ones.”
Team Smackdown
HBM: What brought you here to Country Thunder today?
Team Smackdown: “A lot of our fans. A lot of the people who support us on Facebook and Instagram – they told us that we needed to try out Wisconsin Country Thunder. We have one in Florence, Arizona. Obviously it’s pretty big. It’s great. This is our first time coming here. So far it’s been great. We were a day late. Our motor home needed the brakes and rotors fixed. Like 4 grand worth of fixings. We made it here a day late so today is our first day. But we’re here and so far it’s been great.”
HBM: What brings you to festivals specifically for your marketing efforts? Do you feel like it’s one of your main marketing efforts?
Team Smackdown: “Yes, for sure. We started the company about three years ago. We started after going to these sporting good warehouses where they had casual hunting wear. It was around thirty bucks for just a boxy t-shirt with a logo on it. We wanted to bring to the industry something a little blingy. A little more glitzy. As well as for men. We focus on men, women, kids, babies. Definitely when starting out, on our Instagram and our Facebook, people were saying we had to do country events. It makes sense because a lot of the country fans will be there. And they’re pro-hunting, all this type of stuff.”
Small Town Gems
HBM: Can you give some backstory behind the launch of the brand?
Small Town Gems: “My daughter actually started the company a couple of years ago after she graduated from college and got married. She was with her husband somewhere and she wanted a pair of earrings and he was budget-conscious. He didn’t want her to buy them. She came home and talked to her dad. She said, “can’t you do this?” So they cut a bullet and the rest was history. The four of us are behind the brand.”
HBM: What brought you here specifically to Country Thunder?
Small Town Gems: “My daughter is always looking for new festivals. We were going to go to the one in Arizona this year but we were in Tortuga. We’re all in different places this weekend showing the product. This is the first time we’ve split up doing promotions. I love this place. It’s really laidback. Everybody is really nice here. The organizers are great. They are really welcoming. I’d love to come back.”
HBM: What inspired you to promote at festivals?
Small Town Gems: “We’re trying to build the online store. It’s really taken off. We’re different too. Other companies make bullet jewelry. But with ours, you can customize them. You can pick the length of your necklaces, add your charms, whatever you want. You can build your own jewelry.”
HBM: They’re reasonably priced too!
Small Town Gems: “That was the whole point. My son-in-law was balkng at the price of $45 for a pair of stud earrings. And they were fake bullets and were surgical steel! So we were inspired to build our jewelry brand. Surgical steel and sterling silver were always breaking down. We switched these to stainless steel this year because the silver wears off. Working on getting a big charm cutter. That’ll be next.”
