‘We’re not all into death and doom … it’s more an appreciation of the macabre.’ Exploring brand success at dark tourism festivals

Festivals with dark and Gothic themes and their implications for local economies, cultural appropriation and consumer experience have attracted increased attention in recent years. Dark tourism festivals are popular with festival goers, economically and culturally valuable, and often represent important shoulder-season assets. However, the role of festival goers in the marketing mix is currently poorly understood. This paper focuses on the role festival goers play in experiential marketing at dark tourism festivals. This paper utilises a comparative case study approach, examining two examples of dark tourism festivals with a gothic and dark focus: the Whitby Goth Weekend (UK) and the Bram Stoker Festival (Ireland). The paper adopts an inductive approach, and qualitative methodology, drawing on semi-structured interviews’ primary data. Thematic analysis is used to analyse data. Interviewees (n = 30) include festival management, festival marketers and festival participants. Our findings propose a model for dark tourism festival marketing, positing that a co-created approach, with high levels of participant engagement, is required for brand success. This paper presents implications for the practical promotion of niche festivals, including practical tips for marketing, societal need/ attraction to ‘unusual’ festivals, economic impacts and creating a more resilient festival design.