Festival Apps: Standalone or Container? The strategic choice for your event!
Creating a festival app? That's a challenge! Between a standalone app (under your festival's name) and a container app (like FEST App which groups everything), the choice is crucial. Cost, management, user habits... each option has its pros and cons. We'll explain it all.
When it comes to offering a top-notch digital experience for your festival, the question of the mobile app is central. But then, should you opt for a standalone app, custom-made for your event, or join the adventure of a "container" app like FEST app, which gathers several festivals? Let's analyze it together so you can make the right choice!
Standalone Festival Apps: The ephemeral luxury?
A standalone app proudly bears your festival's name on the App Store, displaying your logo and visual identity from the first glance. Providers like Fragolabs or Appmiral Event Apps often develop app templates, then modify colors, images, and duplicate the model. It serves as a decent showcase for your event. However, this exclusivity comes at a price, and not just financially:
- High Cost: Developing, maintaining, and updating a native app is expensive, very expensive.
- Limited Lifespan: Let's be honest, what does a festival-goer do with an app dedicated to a single event once it's over? It's often deleted a few days later, making the annual investment questionable.
- Management Burden: Managing an app requires time and human resources from your teams. Not to mention the constant updates you'll need to request, which can generate delays and additional costs.
- Updates: Every year, you'll have to go through the update process again, which can be tedious.
In short, while a standalone app offers a strong and personalized brand image, it represents a significant investment in time and money, for a very short lifespan on the festival-goer's phone. An ephemeral luxury that weighs heavily on your team's budget and workload.
Container Apps: The smart and sustainable solution?
Conversely, a container app like FEST app acts as a central hub. The festival-goer downloads ONE SINGLE app that they use all year long, and then finds all their favorite festivals within it. It's kind of like the Netflix of festivals! The advantages for organizers and festival-goers are numerous and weigh heavily in the balance:
- Year-Round Usage: Festival-goers keep the app on their phone, using it to follow the news of all their festivals, even off-season.
- Engaged Community: Your festival joins an already active community of users. Your visibility is multiplied!
- Continuous Promotion: You can communicate to a wider audience and promote your event far beyond your usual fan base. Ideal for attracting new festival-goers.
- Simplified Loyalty: Users follow "a festival," not just "an edition." Your audience stays connected to your brand all year round, making it easier to retain them for future editions.
- Optimized Management: The festival framework is often already pre-created. You just need to take control and integrate your information. Less management time for you, more time to dedicate to the essentials: the on-site experience and partnerships.
- Reduced Cost: The investment is much lower, as platform development and maintenance are pooled.
The only apparent "disadvantage" for the festival is not having "its own app" with its unique name on the stores. However, by typing your festival's name on the App Store, your festival's screenshots and information clearly appear, guaranteeing direct visibility.
The Festival-Goers' Choice is Clear
The survey is unequivocal: festival-goers overwhelmingly prefer to use a single app they keep all year to follow all their music events. No more tedious downloading and uninstalling an app for each new festival!
Ultimately, while a standalone app offers an exclusive brand image, a container app like FEST app provides a durable, economical solution that, most importantly, meets the expectations of modern festival-goers. It's a winning strategy for organizers who want to maximize their reach and engagement, while simplifying their management.
So, ready to join the container app revolution? Contact our sales FEST App team - hey@festapp.io