Leaked Fyre Festival Pitch Presentation Is As Wild As You’d Expect

The investor's pitch deck for Fyre Festival leaks online, offering fans a sneak peak at how the team behind the fraudulent event was able to secure millions in funding. Dubbed a luxury music festival in conjunction of the Fyre music booking app, it was scheduled to take place from April 28–30 and May 5–7, 2017, on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma.

Fyre Festival has already spawned two documentaries - Hulu's Fyre Fraud and Netflix's Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. Both projects tackled the events leading to the event's disastrous opening day with unknowing patrons excitedly traveling to The Bahamas only to be greeted by soaking wet beds and flimsy tents as their accommodations. Now the infamous musical festival's pitch presentation is available online, giving the public the opportunity to see how this disastrous party even got the money to move forward in the first place.

The Fyre Festival pitch deck was leaked on LinkedIn by Alvin Hussey (via BuzzFeed). Composed of 43 slides, the deck is aesthetically pleasing. It lists the countless influencers that were on-board the tropical getaway such as top models like Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Alessandra Ambrosio and Chiara Ferragni. It also provides details on the people behind the project including Founder and CEO Billy McFarland and his co-founder, rapper Ja Rule.

At first glance, the presentation looks promising. The design is sleek and modern - something that appeals to the young crowd that the Fyre Festival is geared towards. The tropical photos, coupled with models used effectively sell the notion of a fun time in the Bahamas. It even ended with a motivational quote seemingly pulled directly from Instagram. In short, it looks like a Pinterest Mood Board that promises to come to life if funded. Obviously, the designer behind the whole deck knew how to market the idea. But that's all there is. Upon closer inspection, there's really no solid business plan (evidenced by the Brand Strategy and Financial slides) behind the illusion and it's disappointing that Farland and his team was able to collect a lot of money using this particular presentation.

That said, as seen in the documentaries for the failed Fyre Festival, Farland is really good at marketing an idea. People whom he worked with, particularly veteran events producer Andy King, were pulling for him until the very end. So much so that King was willing to render "services" to ensure that the festival pushed through, despite the blatant fact that it was far from being salvaged.

Hopefully, the public will be more careful with regard to buying into things they see online after seeing how social media can effectively sell a fantasy that's so far removed from reality. And it's not just about big events such as Fyre Festival, the fact that countless influencers backed up the fraudulent event should be an indication that not everything they endorse online are exactly what they say they are. Sometimes, paid partnerships are just about money, and people should be more wary of blindly supporting these people. If anything, they should be equally accountable for advertising something that they apparently know nothing about.

More: The Faces Of The Fyre Festival: Where Are They Now?

Source: Alvin Hussey (via BuzzFeed)