How App-Based Start-ups have killed College Festivals

Off-late there is a surprising trend of Start-ups, whose target market is unfortunately the 18-24 year old segment, to sponsor College Festivals. To be honest, it makes perfect sense. You can get a title sponsorship for cheaper then the money you burn on silly ads, and the people coming to the festival are exactly the people you are looking for. Scrapegoats in one setting, oh what could be better, thinks the Marketing Manager. 

However, these Tech Start-ups are also using these College Festivals in a very wrong way. In my own college festival, we had 3 App-Based sponsors, and while they paid some good money(Courtesy VC's), they also held us tight by the necks, because they could do so. What ensued next was that, just to gain entry to the festival, you needed to have these very 3 applications in your mobile phone. Not only that, you also had to register on all 3, share all your data and that would be your ticket to the festival. To the excuse of 'I don't have a Data Package', our smiling volunteers would say No Problem with their best Colgate teeth. Yes, we had even set up a Wi-Fi Hotspot so that the poor and innocent had means to download these Apps. Another College Festival, actually did this for their Pre-Event as well, entry only on the basis of if you have the Sponsor's app in your Phone. Their Whatsapp invite was hilarious, 'ENTRY TO THE EVENT IS ONLY SUBJECT TO PHYSICAL VERIFICATION OF APPLICATIONS DOWNLOADED', it said in bold capitals.

Its very much common place nowdays to see this, College Festivals selling out for Start-ups. While the money they give is irresistible, force-downloading Apps is very much unethical, and quite lame actually. Just incase these Start-ups thought they were very smart, all these people who downloaded these apps, also uninstall it the moment they get entry. So yes, techie start-ups, you may have a wand of cash to throw around, but its time a better marketing strategy ensued.