Case Study: Lollapalooza boosts attendee engagement and enables rapid emergency communication with Airship

Lollapalooza Pushes ‘Pause’ and ‘Play’ To Keep the Music Rocking

Lollapalooza, a major music festival hosting 100+ artists and over 100,000 attendees in Chicago’s Grant Park, needed a single, reliable channel to engage fans, guide them across multiple stages, drive use of the event app, and deliver time-sensitive messages for sponsors and safety. Organizers faced the challenge of reaching large crowds quickly for promotions, schedule changes and, critically, emergency communications.

They deployed a full-featured festival app with maps, social tools, custom schedules and push notifications to announce giveaways, alert fans when favorite artists were on stage, and coordinate an evacuation during a severe thunderstorm. With more than 60% push opt-in and frequent app usage (many users opened the app ~15 times a day), organizers moved thousands safely and restarted the show quickly, while reliably delivering sponsor and event messages.

Lollapalooza

Eric Klein

Research and Development Director, C3 Presents