{"id":29890,"date":"2023-01-13T11:36:56","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T11:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2023\/01\/13\/fyre-fests-billy-mcfarland-has-3-agencies-for-new-project\/"},"modified":"2023-01-13T11:36:56","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T11:36:56","slug":"fyre-fests-billy-mcfarland-has-3-agencies-for-new-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2023\/01\/13\/fyre-fests-billy-mcfarland-has-3-agencies-for-new-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Fyre Fest’s Billy McFarland Has 3 Agencies for New Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

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After serving four years in prison for promising a luxury island experience and delivering tents and cold cheese sandwiches in a Sandals parking lot, Billy McFarland is convinced he can rehabilitate his reputation by building another business\u2014out of the island that wants to arrest him. <\/p>\n

McFarland is the architect behind the notorious Fyre Festival<\/a>, which was organized by his talent booking company Fyre and relied on social media marketing from models<\/a> like Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner to lure wealthy millennials. The fraudster has launched a full-fledged apology tour, with McFarland saying he\u2019s ready to make a dent in the $26 million owed to investors, partners and attendees, and three agencies have decided that even the most notorious of swindlers deserves a second chance.<\/p>\n

While some advertising shops see building up his new business venture as an intriguing challenge, Reputation Management Consultants chairman Eric Schiffer dubbed it a \u201clotto ticket to potentially hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tying into the redemption arc McFarland is crafting for himself is a new venture. Dubbed PYRT\u2014pronounced \u201cpirate\u201d\u2014the idea is to send creators back to a boutique hotel in the Bahamas and ask that they intimately involve fans in the entire experience through live streaming, 360 cameras and virtual reality technology. <\/p>\n

Despite Bahamas Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper labeling him a fugitive, McFarland claims he still has \u201creally close friends and supporters\u201d on the island and is hoping this fanbase will grow if he\u2019s able to pay back Fyre Fest workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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JUST IN: Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland is considered a fugitive in The Bahamas, according to a statement by Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper. He stated that the Government of The Bahamas will not endorse or approve any event in The Bahamas associated with him. pic.twitter.com\/PANLsaP1xK<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Eyewitness News Bahamas (@ewnewsbahamas) November 14, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cThe business is about showing people they can do what they didn\u2019t think was possible,\u201d McFarland told Adweek, positioning himself as a charmingly ambitious entrepreneur instead of a seasoned con artist. \u201cThat is my mantra for life, which has led me to all the good and bad that has happened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead of only targeting the elite like he did with Fyre Fest, McFarland is presenting his ventures as philanthropic by including the people who didn\u2019t have thousands of dollars to be scammed out of in the first place. PYRT, which McFarland has launched alongside his longtime friend Mike Falb, has won over branding agency Slaps, tech-focused agency Unconfined and full-service agency NOX. <\/p>\n

The shops said their incentives for taking on the project include McFarland\u2019s commitment to restitution and collaboration, as well as upfront payments and their own excitement about the business idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBilly is surrounding himself with people who are more likely to tell him \u2018no,\u2019\u201d said Unconfined founder and creative director Alejandro Corpus, alluding to McFarland\u2019s unrealistic timeline when trying to execute Fyre Fest. \u201cWe\u2019re not here to be yes men for him. There is a lot of scrutiny under what he does and who he is, so we\u2019re protecting ourselves by explaining to him that these things take time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Banking on a comeback story\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

When PYRT was only a half-baked idea, Falb was in charge of scouting out agency partners and strategically withheld his business partner\u2019s identity until right before intake meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite this foot-in-the-door strategy, McFarland claims that \u201cpeople are way more positive than I was expecting,\u201d citing support for both his professional brand and his personal redemption tour from sympathetic agency partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put myself in his shoes when I was 25, and he made a lot of errors and surrounded himself with the wrong people,\u201d said Corpus, adding that things would have turned out differently if McFarland had worked with an \u201cexperienced agency like Unconfined that has a reputation of delivering on things. We are setting ourselves apart by being a company that can rebrand and get a successful product out there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After initially agreeing to an interview, NOX co-founder and chief creative officer Matthew Ligotti declined Adweek\u2019s request, explaining that he wants his shop to remain \u201cbehind the scenes as the project is progressing.\u201d McFarland admits that not everyone is eager to associate with him\u2014he claims PYRT is funded by the social media content he commissions for brands behind closed doors, in addition to Cameo revenue, an in-progress documentary with Ample Entertainment and Freemantle, and an exclusive line of Leaf Trading Cards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s probably transactional,\u201d said McFarland, adding that he is \u201cgood at making content that gets a lot of attention,\u201d a trait he says is attractive to newer businesses. \u201cPeople\u2019s desire to succeed overlooks a lot of my mistakes in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

McFarland added that brands are \u201climiting my exposure\u201d by keeping their relationships with him private. He wouldn\u2019t divulge much about his clients, but mentioned that a \u201cGrammy Award-winning artist\u201d and job recruitment platform Bounty Hunter World are paying him to handle their social media marketing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to the financial risk involved with befriending a white collar felon, Schiffer\u2014an entrepreneur, author and CNN contributor who has been repairing the damaged reputations of high-profile celebrities and brands since 2007\u2014said the decision is accompanied by \u201can air of desperation.\u201d He added that before an agency takes on a new client, its leaders need to ask themselves whether the majority of their staff is comfortable with the project while seriously considering how current and future clients would react.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll press is not good press for an agency,\u201d said Jennifer Risi, founder and president of marketing and communications agency The Sway Effect. \u201cYou are the company you keep, and you need to make sure you work with brands that are likeminded in values and mission.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Citing a \u2018content revolution\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In addition to offering up his self-proclaimed content creation mastery, McFarland has noticed a mindset shift in the business world after being released from prison. In an effort to distance themselves from corporate America and attract a younger audience, marketers are less precious about their image and more eager to take risks, he said. <\/p>\n

Corpus, who has been most public out of the three agency leaders about his relationship with PYRT, said other clients find the fact that the brand is run by McFarland \u201camusing more than anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who are most scared to get involved have the most to hide,\u201d said McFarland, adding that the brands that work with controversial partners seem the most genuine. \u201cThe content revolution of the last five years has made a lot of this possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slaps, a branding agency focused on projects that appeal to Gen Z and streetwear culture, is drawn to clients with a \u201cstrong story\u201d and desire to do more than just build revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said his intention was to pay back the people he wronged while connecting the digital and physical worlds,\u201d said founder and creative director S\u00e9bastien Vandecasteele. \u201cWe\u2019re taking a leap of faith, but if he said he was just launching the company to rebuild his reputation, our values wouldn\u2019t have been aligned.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Despite his enthusiasm, Vandecasteele wants to see how PYRT develops before directly\u00a0presenting the case study to clients or adding it to Slaps\u2019 website. Corpus said taking risks and \u201cseeing how they play out\u201d is part of the agency business, but Schiffer added that associating with McFarland to any degree at this point comes with high risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a potential that Billy has corrected his business ethics, wants to really provide value and has a system that can deliver on that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut without validation, agencies would be taking a giant gamble that could cause them to end up in the courtroom if they\u2019re wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite spending four years in federal prison for attempting to orchestrate a large-scale island event, McFarland is not reluctant to return to the venture that led to his demise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a couple things I have to do in life, and executing some sort of festival is certainly one of them,\u201d McFarland said. \u201cIt needs to be done at some point in the near future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n