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What do you do with an event app at a food festival? That’s what we asked Peter Berg. He is the co-organizer of the “Castrop Kocht Über”, a food and city festival in Castrop.
He tells us why he uses an event app and what difficulties he faces as the organizer.
LineUpr: Hello Peter. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Please introduce yourself and the “Castrop Kocht Über”.
Peter: My name is Peter Berg and I am responsible for the advertising of the city festival “Castrop Kocht Über”. The CKÜ has been held at the old town market since 1991, traditionally on Corpus Christi weekend. There were only ever a few exceptions where we had to change the location and the time. The festival is run by various restaurateurs offering a variety of food. There is also a live programme in the evening.
LineUpr: How much time and work do you spend on average on the planning of the event?
Peter: It’s hard to estimate the time, but planning actually starts at the festival, when you realize that you can improve something. Besides, you have to make sure that you get the commitment of suitable artists in time. The event is run by nine restaurateurs who regularly meet for planning purposes throughout the year.
LineUpr: What makes your event special? What added value do you offer the participants?
Peter: There are many gastronomy festivals (food festivals) in the immediate vicinity and the Ruhr area, but in Castrop the visitors place a high value on the live programme and it is challenging to get people without music. Trials without a programme caused a decline in visitors, although the music may, unfortunately, be played only up until 10 pm.
LineUpr: What is the typical target audience of your event and how do you reach it? What channels and tools do you use for marketing and presentation?
Peter: We have no particular target group; the spectrum covers all residents of the city of Castrop and the surrounding area. The festival provides the setting for a big gathering of friends and acquaintances, no matter how old they are. There is, of course, a website for the festival and there is also information on Facebook and an Instagram channel. There is also a mobile app that refers to the content from Facebook so that even people without Facebook have access to it. We were also accompanied this year by Cas-TV, which provided moving pictures to the festival. There is also a printed programme booklet with the programme, the food of the restaurateurs and photos from the previous year.
[I] wanted to test [the app] to appeal to the younger generation as well.
LineUpr: You have used LineUpr for the second time now. How did you become aware of LineUpr and what was the decisive argument for you to use an event app? What added value does an event app offer you?
Peter: I learned about it while creating a QR code on an associated website and also wanted to test this to appeal to the younger generation as well, who do many things, of course, with their smartphones.
LineUpr: How did you use the app before, during and after the event?
Peter: The app was used mainly in advance and during the event to show the programme and the information about the restaurateurs to the guests. Thereafter, the access was noticeably reduced, there was also nothing new in the app, such as photos.
Information about the app was available on Facebook and of course in the programme booklet, which was available before and during the event.
All information compact in your pocket, and always updatable.
LineUpr: How did your visitors react to the app?
Peter: Actually, we did not ask, the days are just too stressful for that, but in a personal environment it has been positively included with the other advertising possibilities.
LineUpr: How can food festivals generally benefit from the use of an event app?
Peter: All information compact in your pocket, and always updatable.
LineUpr: Thank you, Peter, for the great interview. You are the first food festival that we were allowed to interview, so it’s something special for us. As Peter said, they use different marketing channels. So if you want to know more about it, check out their homepage, Instagram or Facebook.
We would be very happy to accompany you again next year.
