BuzzFeed’s Eat Your Feed Fest Will Debut Within ComplexCon

BuzzFeed Inc. shared early details surrounding its inaugural Eat Your Feed Festival (EYFF), the first joint experiential offering from the company following its acquisition of Complex Media in December. The food festival, which combines the culinary brands Tasty from BuzzFeed Inc. and First We Feast from Complex Media, will debut within ComplexCon, the annual festival Complex Media has hosted since 2016. The two events will occur Nov. 19-20 in Long Beach, California, with tickets ranging in price from $117 for a single-day pass to $1,000 for a Complex Genesis Pass. Rather than operate as an independent offering, EYFF will function as an on-site activation, said Neil Wright, the head of experiential at BuzzFeed Inc. The festival aims to mature into a standalone operation next year—and potentially hit the road as a traveling event in the future, said Hannah Bricker, the general manager of Tasty. By launching EYFF within a larger, more established event, BuzzFeed Inc. reduces much of the risk associated with spinning up an inaugural event, said Adam Ryan, chief executive of the business publisher Workweek. “This is safer,” Ryan said. “They have nested Eat Your Feed Fest within ComplexCon to give their sponsors confidence that they will meet their attendance goals. If it goes well, they can turn it into intellectual property in a variety of ways.” The dual event comes amid a series of headwinds to the company. The publisher has seen its stock price sink from $10 at its debut to less than $2 per share, despite BuzzFeed Inc. seeing an increase in advertising revenue in its latest quarterly earnings. The publisher has assured investors that its acquisition of Complex Media will unlock new revenue opportunities, and EYFF marks a key case study for that claim. Fans will influence programming EYFF will use incentives to encourage fans of both Tasty and First We Feast to shape the festival prior to its launch, during the event and afterward, according to Bricker. Beginning in September, the two brands will run a social media campaign designed to collect feedback from potential attendees. Fans will be invited to weigh in on which vendors participate, what dishes they cook and what programming will occur. The campaign will also reward interaction, like giving access to an exclusive tour from a creator or a customized meal ticket. This helps EYFF tailor its offerings to what its audiences want, raising the likelihood of their attendance and their on-site engagement, Ryan said. Such buy-in from audiences can increase their value as attendees, making them more desirable to sponsors. ComplexCon has always gathered feedback from attendees after the festival to help improve the experience for the following year, Bricker said. This extends that strategy to even tying those real-life insights back to audiences' online profiles. “One of the reasons that we've been so intentional about rewarding the voting and the participation is to show that we can attract that kind of engagement, measure it before, during and after the festival—and apply those learnings to future iterations,” Bricker said. Tasty’s Licensing Partners Sold More Than $250 Million of Branded Merchandise in 2020 From seven sponsors to 10 ComplexCon and EYFF will generate revenue primarily through sponsorships and ticket revenue, although both festivals will also sell merchandise, including apparel and exclusive drops from ComplexCon, and kitchen gadgets and branded products from Tasty and First We Feast. Last year, ComplexCon sold out the two-day event, attracting 15,000 attendees per day, according to Wright. This year, it hopes to raise that figure to 18,000. Sponsorships provide the bulk of the revenue, and last year the event attracted seven sponsors, though the publisher declined to share precise financial figures. This year, the event aims to sign 10 sponsors, including returning brand partners eBay and Coinbase. Bose will also come aboard this year as its official headphone partner. Despite catering to a food-centric audience, EYFF still faces the challenge of having to create a unified experience that appeals to two different demographics, Ryan said. But the BuzzFeed Inc. team, drawing on the years of experience provided from ComplexCon, is confident it has a natural head start, said Wright. “We have an audience that's very passionate about food already—and we have tens of thousands of people coming to ComplexCon over the course of two days,” Wright said. “So it's really a perfect opportunity for us to lean into it.” New Executive Hires from BuzzFeed Signal Its Heightened Focus on Commerce

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BuzzFeed’s Eat Your Feed Fest Will Debut Within ComplexCon

The combined event aims to top last year's sellout crowd of 15,000

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