Point Break Festival 2025
Achieving 8.96× Instagram ROAS 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 precision-target fans who'll 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.
8.96× Instagram ROAS
Multi-platform execution delivered exceptional returns.
Instagram emerged as the top performer with 8.96× ROAS—nearly 9 dollars returned for every dollar spent. Facebook delivered a solid 2.82× ROAS, 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
8.96× ROAS on Instagram vs. 2.82× on Facebook. 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.