Building Efficient Ticket Demand Across Tesselaar Festivals

A phased, creator-led acquisition strategy that improved paid ticket efficiency across two very different festival campaigns.

23%

YoY growth in recorded paid purchases

35%

YoY revenue growth during KaBloom's Early Bird paid advertising phase

The Challenge

Tesselaar's 2026 festival campaigns operated in very different market and event conditions. Sonar used a phased mix of search, paid social, value messaging and creator content to turn intent into ticket sales. Tulip recorded over 20% more paid purchases year on year while blended cost per purchase fell 13%.

KaBloom's peak booking period coincided with cost-of-living pressure and a fuel crisis that affected travel demand. Tulip Festival needed rapid changes to pricing and messaging when festival conditions shifted, alongside a six-day advertising pause. The task was to protect conversion efficiency, build demand early and keep campaign decisions responsive to fast-changing conditions.

The Solution

Sonar organised activity around the festival demand curve, giving each channel and creative format a clear role from early awareness through to purchase.

Kept Google Search at the centre of demand capture, with brand and high-intent activity funded before broader tests.
Used Meta and TikTok conversion campaigns to scale ticket sales, supported by retargeting, lookalike and interest audiences.
Secured influencer usage rights and used creator-led assets across paid and organic activity, giving campaigns fresher content and stronger audience relevance.
Phased Early Bird, value and festival-open messaging around decision points, then shifted investment away from activity that did not meet efficiency or measurement standards.
Adapted campaign messaging quickly when festival conditions changed, keeping ticket information and customer expectations aligned.

Why It Worked

Timing, intent and creative quality were managed as performance levers. Search captured people ready to buy, creator content built interest and social proof, and value-led messages gave audiences a clear reason to act.

Budget then moved with the evidence across festival phases instead of being fixed to a single channel mix.