Features
Sophie Lobl, Global Festival Talent, C3 Presents
– Sophie Lobl
– Sophie Lobl
The Engagers
Executives who are doing exciting things in fan engagement. People whose work makes for memorable events.
Sophie Lobl
Global Festival Talent, C3 Presents
The shutdown of live concerts in the second quarter of 2020 was especially devastating in the festival space. But that doesn’t mean the work stopped: Sophie Lobl, who is on C3 Presents’ festival talent buying team says she’s busier than ever.
That should come as no surprise, given the need to reschedule, rebook and remarket some of the biggest festivals in the world, including Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza’s international festivals.
“We have just begun booking those festivals for next summer as well. We are also working on virtual festivals to take the place of some shows that can’t happen this year, which are new and exciting. In addition, we are working on ways to reimagine and restructure the festival attendance process so that we can all feel safe.”
Lobl calls 2020 a “rollercoaster” of a year, but thinks it’s also been a year of personal growth and education.
“Recognizing that I can always do better and learn so much more, that we should never get complacent, and always be ready to pivot. If we’re not bettering ourselves daily both in our jobs and in our personal growth, then what’s the point?”
Lobl is also working on creation of virtual festival experiences and, although nothing beats the live experience, the advent of livestreaming means “we now have to be cognizant that [live] cannot be the only way going forward. The exciting part of this is that hopefully many more global fans will be able to access and view content from our shows in different ways and we can also hopefully add a pricing structure that allows fans to views shows from different platforms and locations.”
She cites the success of activations in the Bonnaroo campgrounds as the most impactful of her career, and with good reason. The addition of 10 “plazas” to the festival helped give it a new feel and restore its luster as a leading destination festival.
“We created the Sanctuary of Self Love with Hayley Williams, which is an immersive art meets mental health and beauty experience on site,” Lobl says. “We also created Where In The Woods which is the first ever full production campground stage that runs with DJ’s until 7am. We had a lot in the works for 2020, so those ideas will be revealed in 2021!”