TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose Since effective and successful branding increases the popularity and loyalty of the festival, and its economic success factors like positive media coverage and sponsors’ interest, it is essential that the festival brand image is credible and strong. The purpose of this paper is to focus on interpreting audience’s perceptions on a rock festival brand image to find out the factors that influence the brand image of the festival and how organisers could contribute to it.Design/methodology/approach Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was used in defining the factors influencing a rock festival brand.Findings The attending public co-produce the festival brand, and the brand image was created by the festival community where the importance of social and inclusive behaviour towards strangers was essential.Research limitations/implications The data were collected as a voluntary response sample which led to a biased sample. Another limitation is that the informants were asked to describe only positive incidents.Practical implications The festival brand image cannot be produced solely by organisers; rather, volunteers, artists and especially audience members are crucial for the success and creditability of the brand. This should be considered in marketing and event management.Originality/value The use of CIT in the festival brand image evaluation introduces new possibilities in the field.
VL  - 8
IS  - 2
SN  - 1758-2954
DO  - 10.1108/IJEFM-05-2016-0035
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEFM-05-2016-0035
AU  - Kinnunen Maarit
AU  - Uhmavaara Kerttu
AU  - Jääskeläinen Maiju
PY  - 2017
Y1  - 2017/01/01
TI  - Evaluating the brand image of a rock festival using positive critical incidents
T2  - International Journal of Event and Festival Management
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 186
EP  - 203
Y2  - 2024/04/25
ER  -