Marketing Manager, Festivals

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Marketing Manager, Festivals is responsible for owning the local marketing execution and market growth strategy for assigned festival markets. This role ensures that all local marketing initiatives — including grassroots promotions, influencer partnerships, venue collaborations, local advertising, and promotional partnerships — are executed effectively to drive ticket sales and long-term audience development.

Marketing Managers serve as the market leaders for the festival brand, building relationships with local businesses, influencers, media, and community partners to ensure the event becomes a recognized and anticipated annual experience. This role is expected to uncover and activate the unique local opportunities that turn awareness into momentum and ticket sales in each market.

Working under the guidance of the Senior Marketing Manager and within the strategic framework set by the Vice President of Marketing, the Marketing Manager leads a local marketing team and ensures that all campaign initiatives are implemented effectively within their assigned markets.

Success in this role is measured by ticket sales performance, market penetration, and the strength of local partnerships year over year.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Market Ownership & Local Marketing Strategy

• Serve as the primary marketing lead for assigned festival markets.
• Develop a deep understanding of each market’s audience, culture, competitive events, and promotional landscape.
• Build market-specific marketing plans aligned with the broader campaign strategy and sales phases.
• Identify local opportunities to increase brand visibility and ticket demand through partnerships, grassroots promotions, and community engagement.
• Actively identify high-impact local opportunities — venues, cultural moments, partnerships, and promotional channels — that can uniquely drive ticket demand in each market.

2. Local Marketing Execution

• Ensure these initiatives are executed with strategic intent, prioritizing placements, partnerships, and activations that meaningfully increase visibility and ticket demand in each market.

• Influencer partnerships

• Traditional media placements

• Venue marketing collaborations

• Grassroots activations and street team efforts

• Local promotional partnerships

• Ticket giveaway partnerships

• Local PR support

• Ensure all activations are executed on schedule and documented for reporting and analysis.

3. Market Development & Community Partnerships

• Build and cultivate a strong local ecosystem that supports the long-term growth and cultural relevance of the festival within each assigned market.
• Develop and maintain relationships with key local stakeholders including businesses, venues, influencers, media outlets, and community leaders whose audiences align with the festival brand. Identify partnership opportunities that expand awareness, drive engagement, and strengthen the festival’s presence in the local entertainment landscape.
• Maintain ongoing relationships with partners year over year to build continuity and increased promotional support for future events.
• Cultivate local advocates and ambassadors who organically promote the festival and contribute to building long-term audience loyalty in the market.

4. Team Leadership

• Directly manage and guide the following roles within the local marketing pod:
• Social Media Manager
• Local Marketing Coordinator
• PR & Influencer Coordinator
• Ensure each team member understands campaign priorities, timelines, and performance expectations.
• Lead regular team check-ins to track progress and maintain alignment with campaign goals.

5. Campaign Execution & Coordination

• Work closely with the Senior Marketing Manager and Digital Marketing team to ensure local marketing initiatives support broader campaign goals.
• Align local marketing initiatives with campaign timelines.
• Coordinate creative assets and marketing materials needed for local promotions.
• Support marketing initiatives that integrate local partnerships with digital campaigns.
• Identify high-performing local tactics and partnerships that can be expanded or replicated in future markets.

6. Marketing Insights & Reporting

• Provide ongoing insights and reporting on local marketing performance.
• Track results from partnerships, influencer campaigns, grassroots activations, and promotional initiatives.
• Monitor ticket sales pacing and identify opportunities to increase demand.
• Provide insights that help improve marketing strategies for future festivals.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 4–7+ years of experience in live events, event marketing, entertainment marketing, experiential marketing, or regional / field marketing roles.
• Experience executing marketing campaigns across multiple markets or locations.
• Demonstrated success developing partnerships, grassroots promotions, or community-based marketing initiatives.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects and timelines in a fast-paced environment.
• Comfortable collaborating with cross-functional teams including digital marketing, creative, ticketing, and operations.
• Ability and willingness to travel to festival markets as needed.
• Experience using marketing project management tools – Airtable preferred.

IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE

• Naturally relationship-driven and comfortable building connections within local communities.
• Thrives in fast-moving environments where multiple events and deadlines overlap.
• Thinks in terms of audience growth and ticket sales, not just marketing impressions.
• Curious about local culture, entertainment scenes, and community dynamics in different markets.
• Comfortable balancing strategic thinking with hands-on execution.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to identify creative partnership opportunities.
• Collaborative team player who communicates clearly with internal teams and external partners.
• Energized by live events and passionate about creating memorable audience experiences.

Salary Range: $85,000 - $90,000 per year