Festival launch · Marketing strategy · Paid social
SunsetPort.
Sunset Port Festival: Launching a New Music Festival on Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast
How do you get people to buy tickets to a festival they've never heard of?
For the first edition of Sunset Port Festival, held on 22–23 August 2026 in Pomorie, we developed and delivered a 14-week marketing campaign to build recognition, attract visitors and sell tickets.
By close friends.
The aftermovie
4.5MFacebook and Instagram views, 28% organic
80+pieces of content across a 14-week campaign
455,584accounts reached through paid advertising
~50%of new website users from organic Google search
95%of website visitors from outside Pomorie
Data sources: Meta Ads Manager and Meta Insights, June–August 2026; Google Analytics, 23 June–20 September 2026.
Sunset Port Festival.First edition
Client
Sunset Port Festival, organised by Bonchev Events and the Municipality of Pomorie
Location
Port of Pomorie, Bulgaria
Campaign
May–August 2026
Services
Marketing strategy, creative direction, social media, content production, paid advertising, website development, SEO, email marketing, creators and partnerships
22-23 August 2026.
“
Our team is like a family, and close friends. have been part of it for a while now. We built Sunset Port together, as people who believed in the idea from the start and wanted to be part of it. We went through every idea, every post and every late night side by side.
Hristo BonchevFounder, Bonchev Events
Thechallenge
a festival without an audience.
Sunset Port entered Bulgaria's competitive summer events market with no previous edition, an unfamiliar name and two very different audiences to reach.
The first night brought together Bulgarian performers including Krisko, Maria Ilieva, Mihaela Fileva, Ostava and MONA. The second focused on international house music, headlined by Roger Sanchez.
The festival needed one identity that connected both nights, and enough reasons for people from other cities to travel to Pomorie.
Our approach.
We built the campaign around two motivations: the artists people wanted to see and a summer weekend by the sea.
MotivationThe artists people wanted to see
MotivationA summer weekend by the sea
Move 1Let the artists introduce the festivalMove 2Give people a reason to visit PomorieMove 3Connect every channel to one website
Move 1Let the artists introduce the festival
Move 2Give people a reason to visit Pomorie
Move 3Connect every channel to one website
1 · Let the artists introduce the festival
Let the artists introduce the festival.
We revealed the line-up gradually, giving each artist space to reach their own audience through announcements and invitation videos.
22.08 · Krisko23.08 · Roger Sanchez
22.08
Krisko
Maria Ilieva
Mihaela Fileva
Ostava
MONA
DJ Marti G
23.08
Roger Sanchez
Dimo BG
DIASS
Spirit Grow
1 · Let the artists introduce the festival
Before tickets went on sale, we built an early-access list through social content and the festival website, so there was an audience waiting when sales opened.
✉Sunset Port FestivalnowTickets are available.To everyone on the early-access list
2 · Give people a reason to visit Pomorie
Give people a reason to visit Pomorie.
The seaside, the sunsets and the town itself became central to the creative direction. Our guide to things to do in Pomorie became one of the campaign's most efficient ads, with one link click for every eight accounts reached, against one in twelve across the campaign.
The main flyerThe Pomorie guide
The Pomorie guide · link clicks per accounts reached
Pomorie guide · 1 in 8
Campaign average · 1 in 12
2 · Give people a reason to visit Pomorie
We also ran giveaways with creators and hotels, pairing tickets with accommodation. The largest generated 1,200 comments.
Giveaway
0comments on our largest giveaway
3 · Connect every channel to one website
Connect every channel to one website.
We built sunsetfestival.bg as the campaign's centre, with the programme, artists, early-access registration and links to several ticketing platforms. Social media, Meta advertising, email, media coverage and SEO all pointed there, while radio stations, hotels and other partners shared festival content through their own channels.
On Instagram, organic content generated 786K views, more than the 699K from paid distribution. Website visitors came from across Bulgaria, led by Sofia, Burgas and Varna, and a 3D festival preview was shared 393 times.
Instagram views
Organic786K
Paid699K
95%
of website visitors from outside Pomorie
Website visitors · by city
95% from outside Pomorie
◎ the website, in PomorieTop cities · Google Analytics
led by sofia, burgas and varna.
the 3D festival preview
393
shares of the 3D festival preview
Straightfromthefeed
the festival's own instagram, and the weekend it posted.
Lead with what people already want: artists they know and an experience worth travelling for. Build an audience before tickets go on sale, then direct every channel to one website. For Sunset Port, this approach helped sell out Early Bird tickets and generated 4.5 million Facebook and Instagram views.
Start around three months before the event, with at least two weeks of content before tickets go on sale, and keep promoting until the gates open. Sunset Port's campaign ran for 14 weeks, from the first announcement to festival weekend.
Partners introduce a new festival to audiences it hasn't built yet. For Sunset Port, hotels, radio stations, creators and brands shared festival content through their own channels, and giveaways paired tickets with hotel stays. The largest giveaway generated 1,200 comments.
Use Instagram and Facebook for different jobs. For Sunset Port, Instagram worked best organically, with 786K organic views against 699K paid. Facebook extended the campaign's reach to wider audiences through paid distribution. Together, the two platforms generated 4.5 million views.
Launchingsomethingnew?
A festival, a product or a brand people haven't heard of yet. We've built campaigns from the first announcement to the final ticket sale. Tell us what you're launching.
22.08
23.08
The Pomorie guide
MADNESS Auto Expo.