Fantrepreneur – a change toward event industry

Fandom – group of people who are interested in something or someone can have impacts on media, social, culture and especially, economy. How fans affect the economy can be called as fan economy, which means, it can generate revenue and employment for the media industry, as fans consume and support the products and services related to their fandom. They can also foster entrepreneurship and skills development, as fans pursue their own passions and projects, which is known as “fantreprenneur”. This side of fandom have some influences on event industry and I will show them in the following lines.

Fantrepreneur definition

To readers, you may wonder what an “fantrepreneur” is. It is the combination of “fan” and “entrepreneur”. As for definition, it can be understood as an entrepreneur who uses fandom to generate commercial or social value through professional fan activities or associated activities including community development, critique, or the distribution of fan goods (Lamerichs, 2018). Events that are customized to the unique requirements and interests of fan communities are known as neotribal events, which are created and co-created by fantrepreneurs.

For example, Comic - Con International is an annual convention that showcases the latest in comics, video games, TV shows, movies, and other pop culture phenomena. This big event attracts thousands of fans, artists, celebrities, and industry professionals from around the world.

Comic Con International

As for celebrity fandom, fan projects are quite common. In 2023, BTS Jimin fandom in China, JIMINBAR China has organized several events in China, Seoul, Busan, New York and Tokyo to celebrate their idol’s birthday. The fandom has planned to play the male artist’s ads on large outdoor screen and in CGV theaters. Moreover, Jimin’s songs are also used for a dance project by his fandom.

JIMNINBAR's birthday project for Jimin in 2023

The way fantreperneurs create events can be beneficial to event professionals. Event organizers can leverage the fannish identity and passion of fantrepreneurs, who can offer a more authentic and customized event experience for their target audience. When working with them, event workers can create events that focus on the customer’s needs and preferences. They also stimulate the creativity and entrepreneurship of the fans when inspiring them to pursue their own projects. Nevertheless, these fan entrepreneurs may cause some issues to the event industry employees. The fantrepreneurs can create competition and conflict with the professional event companies, as they may offer similar or better services at lower prices or for free. As I’ve said before, fantrepreneurs rely on peer-to-peer collaboration and user-generated content. Moreover, they have deep knowledge about their fandom’s preferences and can easily connect with each other when hosting and creating events. Additionally, event employees may have to adapt a lot to the preferences of the market, as fantrepreneurs offer more personalized event experiences for their target audience. The main customers may lose interest or unsatisfied if the event agency can’t meet their expectation. Aniani Festival 3, a Japanese cultural festival in Vietnam, has generated criticism because of its poor planning, dissemination of misleading information about the location and unprofessional staff. The supporters are angered by this that they don’t want the event to be held again (Cosbiz, 2023).

To overcome those challenges, what can event managers do? Here are some ways that the managers can refer to. I suppose that event workers, who may have gone under lots of training as well as learning, can offer more professional and reliable services. They clearly know the overall process of organizing events, which follow the standards of event management. Furthermore, they have more experience and skills in handling the complexities and uncertainties of event planning. The tasks and skills such as budgeting, risk management, and contingency planning are common for them to deal with. What’s more, event professionals’ network and resources are a lot more than fantrepreneurs, as they have access to more venues, suppliers, vendors, and sponsors when working for event agencies.  As a result, when it comes to manage events with large scale, the event planner will probably complete those more professionally and systematically. Comparing to fantrepreneurs who conduct events in smaller scale, event organizers are more advantageous.

I would say event planners should form a partnership with fantreprenerus rather than competing intensively. The event workers can support fantrepreneurs in term of professional and legal issues, while the later one is in charge of giving the ideas and information or content related to fandom. With this way, both sides can work more easily and be beneficial. The events created by them will also have higher chance of being successful and satisfying. For example, the Manga Comic Con 2023 in Vietnam is the outcome of the collaboration between the event professional, Vietfest and the fan entrepreneur, FM Studio. With over 40,000 attendees, the event was expertly planned. Over 340 partners and booths are supporting the event. In addition, almost 11 million people have been reached on all social media platforms (Manga Comic Con, 2023). I think for an event that is being hosted for the second time, the above numbers are remarkable.

Manga Comic Con Vietnam in 2023

Sources:

1. https://www.sinclaircomms.com/insights/conversations-that-matter-fan-economy-communications-trends/
2. https://u.osu.edu/thompson.3374/2020/06/22/the-cultural-economy-of-fandom-by-john-fiske/
3. https://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/subcultural-theory-and-theorists/fandom-and-participatory-culture/
4. https://nicollelamerichs.com/2018/07/06/a-typology-of-fantrepreneurs-and-also-a-definition-of-this-phenomenon/
5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2011/07/25/costumes-comic-con-cosplay/?sh=3d4e51933642
6. https://kbizoom.com/chinese-fandom-celebrates-bts-jimins-birthday-with-overwhelming-events/
7. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/08/25/how-ever-evolving-fan-experiences-are-paving-the-way-to-a-new-event-industry/?sh=21e51a2c3656
8. https://cosbiz.vn/ani-ani-festival-giua-bao-bi-netizen-to-to-chuc-te-co-tinh-pr-gay-hieu-nham-nguoi-trong-btc-lai-dang-dan-tuyen-bo-gay-soc/
9. https://www.cvent.com/en/blog/events/event-manager
10. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/role-of-event-organizer
11. https://www.facebook.com/mccvnn/posts/pfbid02ZTcfxtzQeJyYdbdjc3xkTXtTRxosfhpTcSPFRajUGnRYJqndnax8GGVrt1oJZ9Zal