ep 01: we’re planting some seeds 🌱
Four years since we started Chuffed and we’ve worked with so many festivals, hospitality spaces and retreats.
But the ones I feel most passionate about; are almost never the ones with the biggest budgets (or much budget at all 🫣)
I get so frustrated watching brilliant people... people creating genuinely meaningful experiences... take huge risks, and struggle to market what they do, because they’ve never had anyone sit down and help them understand how.
I feel strongly that bringing people together has never mattered more.
But getting people to actually come to your thing?
That’s not as simple as it used to be.
The landscape has changed, attention is harder to earn, and the old ways of filling a room just don’t cut it anymore.
So, instead of just creating strategies for the occasional brand that can afford it... we’re going to teach it! In a way that means experience creators can put down roots, own their strategy, and not panic every time they want to post something.
Our new offer is called... Field Filler.
We’re building it in real time and sharing everything along the way.
The sold-out pilot kicks off in just a couple weeks with an intimate first cohort 🌻
Want in for September? Head to the link in bio to join the waitlist.
Saturday marked 3 YEARS OF CHUFFED 🎂
Well, it’s actually 5 since I started freelancing under the Chuffed domain name - with dodgy branding I made myself and honestly 0 plan to make it my full-time gig.
But 3 years since the date I crowned as our official birthday: my last day working in house at @boomtownfairofficial , and the start of going full-time with a team of 3.
Would I do it all again?
Probably quiiiiite differently… but if I had, I wouldn’t know what I know now!
Side note: if you want to learn A LOT about yourself (and get an stress-induced eye twitch on more than one occasion) I highly recommend starting your own agency.
For bonus points, decide you want to work with independent festivals too 😏
The last 3 years have been a JOURNEY 🎢
From crazy-long days working at KB’s kitchen table while her kids ate dinner around me, trying to juggle enough clients to pay the bills and onboard enough support to help us grow... To chatting to other agency owners over the years (who were shocked we started with no funding) makes me real proud of how far this little project has come.
Over the years I’ve taken on too much. Taken on too little. Priced things wrong. Hired badly. Overworked. Dropped the ball with clients.
STRONGLY considered packing it all in.
But we’ve also navigated a wildly changing social landscape, really learnt how audiences tick, launched sold-out coaching offers, probably hired 50+ people across all our on-site shows (which I LOVE), launched a database for women in the festival media industry, retained one of our retainers the whole time, and had heaps of returning summer clients.
I’ve spoken on panels and podcasts, made creative work we’re super proud of (and produced more than a few viral moments)…
And through it all, we’re entering a new era.
Consider this Chuffed 2.0 babyyyyy!
I’ve taken some of my own advice. After the absolute chaos of last year, I’ve leaned into our unique perspective and values, and we’re now only taking on work guided by that.
We help creative, culture-forward brands and people build community, and bring people together, with purpose.
Let’s go! 💗
Dulcie x
P.S thanks @studioiris.co for the new logo 👀
Reeeeeally digging into it when it comes to your brand values is such an important exercise for you to get clear on your marketing efforts… 🥕
and beyond that, oh I dunno, just like help you find your whole PURPOSE and why you should GET OUT OF BED IN THE MORNING?? 👀
Anyway - not to be dramatic - but I really do think they’re that important, and you can ✨feel it✨ when brands haven’t thought about it.
I recently gave mine a bit of a switch-up, and it’s reminded me how much I love doing this kinda spicy brain work with clients 🧠
We’ve defined values for festivals, hospitality businesses and collectives - and now I’ve been encouraging PARTY FOR ONE peeps to dig into theirs too.
Coz’ whether they’re the pillars of a guiding mission for a huge 70 thousand cap festival or just for you, and how you show up in the world, they’re worth doing - and regularly reviewing.
Defining your brand values is something we’re gonna be diving into in our 🙂as-yet-unnamed🙃 brand strategy offering. Hop on the waitlist now to hear when that drops.
And in the meantime - fling some words in the comments! What do YOU stand for, yo?
🤸♀️ Shoutout @eatyourwords__ for pulling the original business values out of my brain the first time (like 3 years ago??) and @louiseambercoaching for helping me define my personal values.
I think values work is a bit like tidying the house, it’s much easier when they’re someone else’s and much better with help!
#BrandStrategy #BrandValues
The sun is SHINING + that means one thing in my world...
FESTIVAL SEASON IS CLOSE!! (I can almost taste it 👅)
I have a handful of weekends left available so here’s a lil reminder of what I can do (with some cute team pics from the archives 🥹):
📲 Co-ordinate your on-site socials + make your feed and stories POPPIN
🎬 Create content end to end; whether that’s lo-fi highlight vids, vox pops, interview content
✍️ Curate a content team or full media team around your event
🔨 Bridge the gap between ops + comms in a crisis comms or advisory role
🌸 Look after a specific campaign on site, from brand partner content to sustainability initiatives
🧠 Build your on-site content strategy so you make the most of the live show
✨ Deliver post-show content sprints + launch campaigns
🎨 Come up with something weird + wonderful + totally specific to your show
Got something that doesn’t fit that list? Tell me anyway.
I’ve worked festival builds and live shows of all sizes, from Glastonbury and Boomtown to tiny indie festivals, and across the world from the mountains of Rise Festival to the desert of Oasis in Marrakech.
Happy in a managerial or self-operator role, as part of a team or leading one.
If your summer has a show in it, let’s CHAT BBZ!!
Yes, we expect our content creators to be able to do their own stunts 🤙
Little BTS from @rise_festival with @k.o.s.t.i.e this year… we always build content creator teams with various skill levels to reflect an authentic festival experience… but that comes with its own challenges 😉
Have you got what it takes? ⛷️
We believe there’s no one right way to market experiences.
There’s no single route to a full room, a sell-out class or a packed show…
Lots of approaches are valid, and we’ve seen most of them work for the right person at the right time.
But we do have our own ✨ philosophy ✨!
A set of principles that we build our strategies around after years of working on festivals, collectives and campaigns.
These are designed to not just sell tickets but to cultivate community.
+ that’s what lasts!
Swipe to read them + let us know if you agree →
Dulcie Horn @du1cie is the founder of @chuffed.digital , a creative strategy studio working across festivals and experience creators.
Horn has been vocal about the need for greater gender representation within festival media spaces, an area that continues to lag behind other parts of the industry.
In our conversation (link in bio) Dulcie reflects on building Chuffed from the ground up, the realities of running a business within a seasonal sector, and the importance of staying close to the communities that shape festival culture.
photo credit for Dulcie's photos at Glasto @amyfernphotography
An ode to the legend that is KB.
Someone who doesn’t get much airtime on the Chuffed page (and will likely hate this post) but who the real ones know!!!
Everyone say HAPPY BIRTHDAY KB!!! 🎂👇
Sliding in here with a cheeky lil PART TWO for the last episode + some more of my personal ruminations on the topic - because it’s a big one!! 💞
I’d love to keep hearing from you, about whether who owns the festivals you go to is important to you and if it’s something you’re factoring into your ticket purchases this summer or where you are working?
I’ve tagged some of the indie festivals featured in this rel in th video 🌸
Do you know who owns your favourite festival?!
This one has been in the drafts for a while + I thought with the latest leaked messages from Live Nation directors bragging about “robbing them blind baby” and the incoming start of a new season it was high time we discussed… 🥁
FESTIVAL OWNERSHIP!
Now, I’ll caveat this by saying 3 minutes is hardly any time to go into the nuances of this subject… + I only talk about two of the big companies here, and the issues that have been most talked about over the last year or so.
I do not equate independent with fully good or non-independent as evil - I don’t see it as being that binary.
I want us to have a thriving creative festival industry and I have seen first hand many times how difficult and risky that can be to do independently.
However…. there are definitely things worth discussing here.
To quote @willstreetwise latest Substack “When you treat culture like a commodity, you end up with soulless weekends.”
I’d love to know your take.
→ Does this affect who you work with what tickets you buy?
→ Have you seen a change in any festivals that have been bought?
→ Do you think an ecosystem of fully independent festivals is realistic?
Get stuck in in the comments! 🖊️
Analogue is “trending”.
But half the time when people reference it… it’s not even true analogue. It’s retro digi cams, it’s dad cams, it’s the exact camera I used to take to the clurrrrb when I was 18 🥴
And yes, watching TikTokkers squeal over iPod nanos does make me feel approximately 74.
BUT, this shift is worth paying attention to 👀
Because, I think it’s a direct rebellion against AI slop.
At the end of last year, head of Instagram @mosseri said that in a world of “infinite synthetic content”, authenticity becomes a scarce resource.
When feeds are flooded with hyper-polished, AI-assisted, frictionless content… grain, imperfection and texture start to feel like proof of humanity… and real visceral experience! 🖐️
Maybe one way back to authenticity isn’t rejecting new tech entirely, but mixing older media formats with newer styles.
Enjoy some of the beautiful analogue-leaning content the team created at @rise_festival this year.
💌 + if you want more content inspo + practical strategy on what you should be posting to get people to come to yout thing, get on the list for our new mailer series Content for Connection.
ngl I would 100% watch this reality show, would you?
Realised I haven’t shared any sort of recap from our FIFTH YEAR running the content at Rise Festival. I’ll do a proper round up soon… but safe to say it was a great year.
Finally had some pals come along, we smashed the content (which is already paying off big time in 2026 ticket sales) and just really built on and nailed the processes and creative ideas we’ve been building over the years.
V proud of everyone involved. Big love to @dgtlconcepts or media lovers + account manager spectacular @dgarnham 💘
