Behind the Scenes with Pitch Music & Arts: Insights from Senior Marketing Manager on Building a Festival That Inspires, Connects, and Expands

Now that Pitch Music & Arts is gearing up for its 2024 festival, we caught up with Senior Marketing Manager at Untitled Group, Steph Mrmacoski. We delve into the importance of having a distinct point of view (POV) in the events space, the inspiration behind Pitch Music & Arts, and the power of social media in building a community.

We gained insights into the mind of seasoned festival marketers and learn from their experience in creating a festival that leaves attendees feeling inspired, connected, and expanded.

Tell us a little about yourself and the mission of Pitch Music and Arts?

I’m a Senior Marketing Manager at Untitled Group, where I specialize in Major Festivals. I manage the marketing for our flagship events, Beyond The Valley and Pitch Music & Arts.

We just wrapped up our sixth edition of Pitch Music & Arts, which was really special.

Our mission for Pitch underlies every decision we make; we hope to provide a space for self-expression, creativity, and inclusion and offer fellow electronic music lovers a world-class festival experience unique to Australia.

Our home at the foothills of the Grampian plains is the perfect backdrop for this. Having worked at festivals all around the globe, I can honestly say that Pitch has one of the most breathtaking festival sites in the world.

We strive to achieve this mission through forward-thinking programming, stage design, production, sound, and operationally. Of course, the marketing of the festival is no different.

What do you want attendees to feel when they leave an event like PMA? What is their 'gut' takeaway?

Inspiration, connection, expansion. I hope they feel satiated and their curiosity piqued.

There’s this paradoxical feeling that you get after a good camping festival, where you simultaneously feel tired yet completely rejuvenated.

I remember the feeling I had after my first Glastonbury; it completely opened my mind and honestly changed my life. Facilitating a moment like that for even one person would be the ultimate goal.

PMA has an incredible social following and love from your community. What advice would you give other event hosts when thinking about their event brand on social media and hitting those touch points across the various mediums?

We love our People of Pitch!

I guess I approach marketing like it’s story-telling. It’s my job to communicate the Pitch experience from the launch of the campaign to the aftermovie and beyond. It’s important to both educate and engage people so that each year the Pitch story starts at the beginning of the campaign, and you already feel at home and have an idea of what to expect by the time you arrive at the festival.

The marketing team and I constantly attempt to challenge ourselves, push boundaries, and think of fresh and engaging ways to connect to our community through our content.

My advice to other event hosts would be to post purposefully and ensure everything you communicate online mirrors the essence of your festival ethos. Develop content pillars that continually add to this narrative at each touch point of the campaign. Keep an eye on what does and doesn’t connect with your audience, remain agile and optimize accordingly.

In terms of building a community, I think acknowledging that social media is only one cog in the wheel is super important. You have to make those strides offline for it to feel authentic online.

The wider Pitch & Untitled team is dedicated to ensuring that as the festival grows and evolves, we remain connected to our local community. This remains deeply important to us and something we hope to focus even more on in the future.

Why is it important to have a distinct POV in the events space?

Self-expression, creativity, inclusivity - I don’t doubt we share this mission with other promoters.

However, finding your own way to produce this allows you to differentiate yourself from other brands and events in a saturated market.

Talk to people and find out what they’re lacking in an event experience and find a unique way to deliver it. Figure out what you do well and hone in on it. For example, Untitled and Pitch have become synonymous with production and sound, so this is one thing we continually like to highlight.

Having a distinct POV also allows you to foster a more authentic connection with like-minded people which I believe is a, maybe even the key ingredient in an event standing the test of time.