Your client is sponsoring a music festival for the first time.
The brand logo will appear on 60 metres of banners near the main stage, across multiple sponsor zones and on VIP materials. You received the brief three weeks before the festival. The organiser has just changed the layout of the main zone.
On Friday morning, the technical crew enters the venue. Everything must be ready by then. There is no “we’ll deliver on Monday” option — the festival will not wait.
An event deadline is fundamentally different from a retail campaign deadline. A delay is visible to 10,000 people.
The season runs from May to March — not only in summer
Most manufacturers and agencies think about events as a summer season. In practice, the calendar looks different:
– Outdoor — May to September: music festivals, outdoor events, stadium concerts, sports events. Outdoor printing dominates: mesh banners on fences, stage branding, sponsor flags.
– Indoor — October to March: arenas, concert halls, music clubs, corporate events, New Year’s Eve productions. Materials and technologies change — frontlit, textiles and ZEN graphics with replaceable SEG fabric become more important.
For event agencies and production partners this means one thing: the season practically lasts all year round. April and September are transition months, not downtime.
What materials are typically produced for concerts and festivals?
Depending on the scale of the event and your client’s role (organiser, title sponsor, sponsor zone partner), a typical production includes:
– mesh banners — for fences and outdoor constructions; mesh allows airflow, which for large outdoor formats is a requirement, not an option,
– frontlit banners — for stages, roofing systems, VIP zones and covered areas,
– textile graphics for ZEN frames with SEG system — stage backdrops, sponsor walls; tool-free fabric replacement,
– textile printing and sublimation — artistic flags and stage design elements,
– beachflags and mast flags — sponsor zone marking and entrance branding,
– barrier covers — branding directly on safety barriers near stages or VIP areas,
– sponsor tents — printed and ready for installation,
– graphic walls — press walls, photo walls, media zones,
– roll-ups and display stands — VIP areas, press zones and indoor spaces.
For larger projects, many of these elements are ordered simultaneously — with one delivery deadline and one person responsible for the entire production.
Why is a festival deadline a completely different category?
In retail, a two-day delay means a nervous phone call and a shifted schedule. At a festival, a two-day delay means an empty space next to the main stage on opening day.
There is no possibility to “catch up later”. The technical crew arrives, installs and leaves. Festival logistics will not wait for a reprint.
There is also the material factor itself: mesh banners must withstand wind, rain and sun for several days. A poor material choice becomes visible not after a week — but on the third day of the festival, when the banner starts tearing apart.
Where is time usually lost?
Rarely during the graphic design stage itself. Most often during:
– Files returning with corrections when only two weeks remain.
– Layout changes introduced by the organiser after the brief has already been approved.
– Coordinating multiple suppliers for different zones and formats at the same time.
– Lack of confirmation whether express production is actually available — instead of checking with production before promising it to the client.
How does Labo Print support event productions?
We produce materials for concerts and festivals as a production partner — from banners and mesh systems to ZEN textile graphics, barrier covers and sponsor tents. In practice, this means:
– One project coordinator for the entire production. Regardless of the number of products and formats — one contact point, one schedule and one responsibility.
– Active DTP support. We verify the file before production starts. If there is an issue — we call instead of rejecting the file.
– Express production within 24 h from file approval. A standard option with a reasonable surcharge — not an unrealistic promise.
– Support for non-standard projects. Custom formats, unexpected layout changes, materials outside the standard catalogue — we evaluate and propose solutions.
How to prepare for an event production?
✔ Confirm production availability before promising a deadline to the client.
✔ Prepare files with the correct profile for outdoor printing (CMYK, 100 dpi at full scale, bleed).
✔ Check exposure conditions — outdoor vs indoor determines material selection.
✔ Plan a schedule with a buffer for possible layout changes from the organiser.
✔ Work with one production partner for the entire project instead of separate suppliers for each zone element.
Do you have a concert or festival production coming up?
Send us your brief or production outline — we will confirm deadlines, material availability and propose the best production approach.
No obligation. Based on a real production scenario.