IS YOUR EVENT OR FESTIVAL DROWNING IN A CROWDED RED OCEAN? HERE’S HOW A “BLUE OCEAN” STRATEGY CAN HELP YOU DIFFERENTIATE
Many events and festivals drown in a sea of sameness (red ocean)—here’s how to sail into less contested spaces (blue ocean).
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Many events compete in crowded, oversaturated “red oceans” where market share is hard-won, margins erode, and differentiation is difficult to find.
Blue Ocean Strategy offers a proven, practical framework to differentiate—by creating uncontested market space through value innovation.
CEF adapts and applies the Blue Ocean Event Model for events and festivals using four steps: Eliminate, Reduce, Raise, Create.
Real-world examples—prove it’s possible to redefine experiences and unlock new demand.
Success demands courage, organisational alignment, and disciplined, continuous innovation—but the rewards are long-term growth, brand distinction, and loyal new audiences.
Imagine launching a new music festival in Europe today. You fight for headline acts, scramble for permits, negotiate with lots of the same sponsors, and compete for the same overstretched audiences who already have dozens of events to choose from. Ticket prices climb. Margins tighten. Creativity shrinks. And still, your event might well …still blend into the sea of sameness.
It’s no wonder that even the most ambitious event organisers often find themselves locked in a tough battle for market share.
INTRODUCTION
But what if we’ve been asking the wrong question all along? Instead of "How do we outperform the competition?" the real question should be: "How do we make the competition irrelevant?"
This is the provocative foundation of Blue Ocean Strategy, developed by Professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne (2005), and it holds profound, yet underexplored, implications for those kick starting new and reviving older events and festivals.
“In a sea of sameness, the smartest organisers don’t fight harder—they change the rules.”
THE PROBLEM AND/OR OPPORTUNITY
Most event organisers unconsciously operate in what Kim and Mauborgne call the “Red Ocean.” It’s a saturated space where competitors battle over similar audiences, similar sponsors, and media attention. The result? Margins erode. Differentiation is hard to come by. Audiences disengage. Festivals start to feel interchangeable, no matter how good the branding looks.
But Blue Ocean Strategy flips that logic entirely.
Rather than competing within crowded markets, successful organisations create uncontested spaces—blue oceans—where new demand is unlocked, and competition becomes irrelevant. They do this by reimagining the boundaries of their sector, reaching beyond existing audiences, and crafting value propositions so distinctive they reshape the market itself.
Think of Cirque du Soleil. Founded in 1984, they ignored the failing circus industry’s conventions: no animal acts, no star performers, no gaudy spectacle. Instead, they fused theatre, music, and acrobatics into a refined experience for adults willing to pay premium prices. They didn’t just outperform traditional circuses—they rendered them irrelevant, creating a market space competitors didn’t even recognise.
The same logic applies to events and festivals. If we remain trapped in the red ocean, chasing the same tired formulas, the future will be more crowded, competitive, and financially precarious. But step into a blue ocean, and we can unlock new audiences, new revenue streams, and new cultural relevance.
The global events and festivals industry is entering a period of high levels of competition. From large-scale music gatherings to sprawling food festivals—everyone is competing for finite audience attention, limited venue space (both indoor private and outdoor public space), strained sponsorship budgets, and increasingly fatigued consumers.
Audiences, especially post-pandemic, are more selective with their time, money, and attention. Meanwhile, event costs—from security to sustainability requirements—continue to rise. The result is a brutally competitive environment where many festivals, regardless of size or reputation, struggle to survive. It’s the classic red ocean: known boundaries, intense rivalry, shrinking margins, and differentiation that rarely lasts.
The warning signs are clear:
· Event cancellations are rising due to weak ticket sales.
· Established events are homogenising in format and experience.
· Sponsors demand more measurable, innovative returns—but organisers often recycle old ideas.
· New entrants face immense barriers to success unless they mimic existing models.
WHY DOES THIS MATTER NOW?
Yet amidst this, the Blue Ocean approach offers a lifeline. By shifting the focus away from head-to-head competition and toward market-creating innovation, event professionals can:
· Attract entirely new audience segments.
· Combine unexpected formats or experiences to redefine categories.
· Challenge outdated assumptions about value, price, and participation.
· Unlock new demand beyond the crowded event calendar.
The reality is simple: Events and festivals that cling to conventional strategies risk becoming indistinguishable—and disposable. But those bold enough to chart new waters can thrive, even in challenging market conditions.
“Events that cling to conventional strategies risk becoming indistinguishable—those bold enough to chart new waters can thrive.”
Blue Ocean Strategy isn’t just a theory—it’s a practical, research-driven framework with clear, actionable tools that events and festivals can apply to escape saturated markets. At its heart lies Value Innovation—the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to create new, uncontested market space where competition becomes irrelevant.
To operationalise this for the events and festivals sector, we have the Blue Ocean Event Model, applied from Kim and Mauborgne’s principles but a helpful model that can be tailored to the realities of live experiences. It consists of four interlinked components that together help organisers rethink their strategy, unlock new demand, and reshape the playing field entirely:
1. The ERRC Grid – Eliminate, Reduce, Raise, Create
This tool forces organisers to systematically challenge assumptions and redesign their events:
· Eliminate: What outdated features, formats, or costs can be removed entirely?
· Reduce: What aspects can be scaled back below industry norms to cut complexity and appeal to new audiences?
· Raise: What experiences, features, or values can be amplified significantly beyond expectations?
· Create: What entirely new features, experiences, or business models can be introduced that the sector has never seen?
Example: Many community-led food festivals eliminate expensive headline chefs, reduce sprawling setups, raise local authenticity, and create vibrant, hyper-local street food experiences—attracting diverse audiences often priced out of mainstream food events.
WHAT IS THE BLUE OCEAN EVENT MODEL
2. Reconstruct Market Boundaries
Look beyond traditional definitions of your sector.
· Who else could your event serve?
· What adjacent industries, artforms, or audiences can you merge to create something distinctive?
Example: Cirque du Soleil redefined the circus by blending theatrical storytelling and live music, attracting new, adult audiences willing to pay premium prices—without competing directly with traditional circuses.
3. Reach Beyond Existing Demand
Don’t just target existing audiences—seek the non-customers:
· Those disillusioned with conventional festivals
· People excluded by accessibility, pricing, or cultural barriers
· Adjacent groups overlooked by traditional marketing
Example: Copenhagen’s "Stella Polaris" festival offers free, family-friendly, ambient music in public parks. By removing barriers to entry and focusing on relaxed, inclusive experiences, they attract non-traditional festival-goers who might otherwise avoid live events altogether.
4. Build Execution Into Strategy
A bold idea means nothing without delivery. Successful Blue Ocean Events build organisational buy-in, align resources, and engage stakeholders early to overcome resistance and bring innovation to life.
Example: Boomtown Fair transformed the standard music festival by embedding immersive theatre, elaborate set design, and interactive storytelling—creating a city-sized narrative experience. But its success hinged on deep cultural alignment, skilled teams, and stakeholder belief in the vision.
In every case, these events didn’t just compete better—they redefined aspects of the market, unlocked new audiences, and made the competition irrelevant.
THE HIDDEN TRADE OFFS: WHY BLUE OCEANS ARE HARDER TO FIND THAT THEY LOOK
While the Blue Ocean Event Model offers a compelling pathway out of saturated markets, it’s far from easy to implement. Organisers face real-world barriers that can stall or derail even the boldest ideas. Here are five common challenges, along with strategies to overcome them:
1. Organisational Inertia
Many festivals are built on traditions, internal hierarchies, and habitual ways of working. Teams accustomed to repeating last year’s formula may resist fundamental change, especially when new approaches feel risky or unfamiliar.
Solution: Engage your team early in the strategic process. Use tools like the ERRC Grid collaboratively to generate ideas, build ownership, and reduce resistance. Transparency and participation increase buy-in.
2. Risk Aversion Among Sponsors and Partners
Sponsors often favour predictability. Introducing radically new formats, targeting unfamiliar audiences, or removing legacy features can trigger anxiety among partners seeking measurable returns.
Solution: Frame innovation as a risk-managed process. Offer pilots, phased rollouts, and clear metrics demonstrating how new approaches open untapped markets or deepen engagement.
3. Audience Expectations and Habitual Preferences
Audiences often default to what they know—familiar genres, formats, or headline acts. Changing this can alienate core attendees or create initial confusion.
Solution: Identify and communicate clear added value. Highlight how changes create better experiences, accessibility, affordability, or novelty for audiences. Focus on underserved groups, not just existing customers.
4. The Imitation Problem
Even successful Blue Ocean Events face rapid imitation once others see results. New market spaces rarely stay uncontested forever.
Solution: Continuous innovation is critical. Events must evolve their experience year-on-year, adding layers of differentiation, community loyalty, and cultural relevance that are hard to replicate.
5. Resource Constraints
Reinventing an event often requires new skills, partnerships, or technologies—resources that smaller organisers may struggle to access.
Solution: Start small. Identify low-cost innovations or blended experiences that can differentiate your event without overextending budgets. Partner with aligned organisations to share risk and resources.
CONCLUSIONS
The Future Belongs to Bold Event Innovators
The events and festivals industry is at a crossroads. Saturation, sameness, and escalating competition have pushed many organisers into a survival mindset—scrambling for market share, recycling tired formats, and battling over price.
But as Blue Ocean Strategy teaches us, the most enduring success doesn’t come from outperforming competitors—it comes from making them irrelevant. Cirque du Soleil didn’t just create a better circus; it created an entirely new entertainment category. Companies who engage in this thinking try not to swim harder in crowded waters—they sail into blue oceans of un- or less-contested opportunity.
For event and festival organisers, the same opportunity exists. By systematically applying the Blue Ocean Event Model—through elimination, reduction, raising value, and bold creation—events can escape the saturated red ocean, redefine their offering, and unlock new, underserved audiences.
But the window to act is narrowing. As market fatigue grows, only those with the courage to challenge assumptions, reconstruct boundaries, and innovate continuously will thrive. The rest risk blending into irrelevance.
The future of events isn’t about competition—it’s about creation. The question is: will you fight for scraps in the red ocean, or chart a bold new course into blue waters?
LOOKING FOR A FIRST STEP? REDESIGN ONE ELEMENT USING THE ‘ERRC GRID’
You don’t need to overhaul your entire event overnight to apply Blue Ocean thinking. Start small—but start now.
Choose one element of your event—pricing, programming, accessibility, partnerships, or audience experience—and run it through the ERRC Grid:
What can you Eliminate?
What can you Reduce?
What can you Raise?
What can you Create?
Test this thinking on a single feature, gather audience feedback, and observe how it reshapes perceptions or demand. Small, strategic changes can open the door to bigger market-creating opportunities.
The key is to start questioning assumptions today—because in a saturated industry, hesitation means irrelevance.
