Whether you’re a new festivalgoer or a fan of the first hour, do you really know the No Logo at your fingertips? Do you know, for example, where our now well-known slogan “You decide” comes from? Do you know why you never see any other brand of big media or big groups sponsoring every square meter of our site? Or do you know why “No Logo”?
No?!! Then this little update is for you!
No Logo : an utopia that lasts
To make a long story short, in 2013 we said to ourselves “and why not create a festival?” Basically that was the idea. But here we are, rather than following a classic and well-defined scheme, rather than starting to fill out grant applications and send partnership proposals to the biggest players, we wanted to stay close to our values: militant and committed. So we created a festival without subsidies, without sponsors, without patrons and with a lower average admission fee than most festivals with an equivalent offer. And what’s more, advocating short circuits and the development of the local economy…
“You’re completely insane!!
That is the kind of remarks we have had countless times at the beginning and every year for the past 5 years. So yes, it’s true, we’re crazy. But we have proof every year by seeing more and more of you joining the Forges de Fraisans site for three days of celebration and sharing that madness is sometimes really worth it! Would we do it differently if we could start all over again? Certainly not!
“But then, how do you do it?!”
And this is the second question that comes up most often! Where do we find this money to set up the festival every year?! First of all, in pre-sales. We are lucky to have an audience that anticipates his coming to the festival. From mid-December to August, not a day goes by without some of you visiting our ticket office. So to make it simple, the more you anticipate your arrival, the more you allow us to progress serenely in the preparation of the festival.
After 3 years of sold-out attendance, one would think that our ticket office would be enough to make the festival profitable. Well, no, we happen to be risk-averse around here. So when the festival opens its doors with a full house, on the organizational side, we are still not serene! And that’s where our eyes turn to our bars. We’re not going to lie to you, like any festival, we need our bars to run. They represent about 25% of our budget. But that doesn’t mean taking you for cash cows: probably not. So we try to offer you drinks at fair prices and above all quality. We brew our own beer and we pick up our drinks from Franc Comtois and Alsatian producers in order to offer you a regional and quality menu. In addition, every day we set up a happy hour of one hour allowing you to enjoy even cheaper drinks. So 1 to 2 drinks per night on our bars and you allow us to manage to close our budget at the end of the festival.
And finally, a small percentage comes from the sale of restaurant and exhibitor spaces. We sell them at a fixed price and do not recover any percentage of the sales. We simply rent the sites.
That’s it, you now know exactly how an independent festival does to finance itself.
So you will have understood it, without you, without your membership, without your loyalty, the No Logo would not be there today. If this utopia has lasted for 5 years and is about to give its 6th edition, it is only because you are there. Thank you! Thank you!
With this particular and risky economic pattern, we were able to see on our own scale that thanks to an entire public, an entire community, we could do great things. Today, festival-goers are no longer obliged to be consumers, you can be at our side, actors of your festival. By expressing yourself, by adhering to the concept and values and by coming to live three days of celebration and sharing.
PS: if you missed our article explaining why there are no volunteers at No Logo, it’s on this way