Point Break Festival 2025
Achieving exceptional Instagram returns through multi-platform digital advertising
Beach vibes meet East Coast reach
Scaling ticket sales across the Mid-Atlantic and beyond.
Point Break Festival brings reggae, rock, and surf culture to Virginia Beach. With a devoted fanbase and a growing reputation on the East Coast festival circuit, the event had established itself regionally—but needed to expand beyond the Hampton Roads market.
The challenge: reach high-affinity fans across Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, and the broader East Coast without wasting budget on low-intent audiences. Every dollar needed to work harder.
Key insight
Regional festivals compete for attention with national tours. The marketing must target fans who will travel for the right experience, not just spray-and-pray to local demographics.
Geographic hotspot discovery
Finding high-affinity fans where nobody was looking.
1st party data targeting
Leveraging headliner first-party data alongside Point Break's past buyer lists, we built lookalike audiences across Meta, Google, and TikTok—ensuring ads reached proven fans.
Geographic DMA optimization
We allocated 55% of spend to Virginia, with strategic pushes into North Carolina (14%), Maryland (6%), and secondary markets like DC, Philly, and Charlotte.
Multi-platform execution
Campaigns across Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Google Search, and TikTok—each platform optimized for its highest-performing ad types and audiences.
Intra-campaign retargeting
Aggressive retargeting kept the festival top-of-mind. Visitors who engaged but didn't convert got follow-up ads with payment plan messaging and urgency-driven creative.
Exceptional Instagram performance
Multi-platform execution delivered strong returns.
Instagram emerged as the top performer with exceptional returns—significantly outperforming other platforms. Facebook also delivered solid performance, demonstrating the power of platform-specific optimization.
The campaign ran from October 2024 through June 2025, ramping spend strategically around key moments: lineup announcements, early bird sales, and final push campaigns. Age targeting focused on the 25-44 demographic, with near-perfect 50/50 male/female split.
Key insight
Platform matters. Instagram dramatically outperformed Facebook for festival ticket sales. First-party data from headliners provided the foundation for high-converting lookalike audiences.
Lessons for festival marketers
Strategies that drove Point Break's success.
First-party data is gold
Leveraging headliner fan data created lookalikes that converted at dramatically higher rates than interest-based targeting alone.
Instagram outperforms for festivals
Instagram significantly outperformed Facebook for this audience. Visual, aspirational content resonates with festival buyers—allocate accordingly.
Geographic targeting matters
55% of spend focused on Virginia, with strategic expansion into NC, MD, and the DC/Philly corridor. Know your primary DMAs, then expand surgically.
Retargeting drives conversions
Intra-campaign retargeting with payment plan messaging captured fence-sitters. Keep the festival top-of-mind through the decision journey.