Above Average Adventures of an Average Man: Episode 3

Building a boutique camping festival from scratch in a week on a gut feeling and blind faith - and only bloody landing it! (I think).

I am a restless soul who loves to have ideas (some are bobbins, some alright, a small number occasionally half decent). I get excited and jump around from concept to concept but every now and again land on something that actually gets finished. What I enjoy the most about ideas is when you land on a thing that just feels right and you go with your gut and make it happen. That can be hard when you are working in an agency or client framework but I am currently flying solo. What makes this really special is when you collaborate and share in that slightly scary shooting from the hip journey, building, refining, iterating and creating 'the thing' as you go. That very thing is happening right now alongside my good friend and co-conspirator Anthony Prior.

Both of us are currently 'between jobs' (i.e. having been on a EUROS sabbatical) so we took a day out to drive to a beautiful piece of land in Dorset that Ant spotted on Instagram. After being blown away by the beauty and potential of the site, a few hours later we were planning our own 'boutique camping & micro festival'. By the time we got home we had cut a little hype video and come up with a concept and name for our fledgling venture; Camp Bliss.

After promising my wife I would no longer organise festival events after spending weeks of my holiday time away from home in the past producing venues at Glasto, Kendal Calling and Boomtown, she was really delighted with our new idea. The difference with Camp Bliss is that it's all about creating a chilled and fun experience for family and friends with tickets available by invitation/referral only - the idea being everyone knows someone and our audience already have that community connection before they arrive. She's now come around to the fact this is not me disappearing for a rave with my mates again and we are looking forward to going as a family with our two young sons.

Within 24 hours we had posted our little video out along with a survey to a load of mates to test the water and received a resounding 'yes please' by the following morning. With zero budget and no designer but with a solid idea and bags of enthusiasm/blind faith, we smashed together a web page (I know, American Typewriter on blue sky never looked so good), created a booking form and sent the 'secret' link out to everyone. Within a few days we had sold half the tickets and within a couple of weeks we had sold out of our then capacity. Following the relaxing of COVID regs we are now able to put a small additional batch of tickets on sale to reach our maximum 500 capacity. If Camp Bliss sounds like your kind of vibe and you are looking for a blissfull finale* to your summer ( tone of voice WIP) then DM me, we'll make friends and I'll share the link with you.

Note to any potential employers that might somehow happen across this; I am not planning on trying to become the next Rob Da Bank and will be available for grown up work (without distraction, honest) from w/c 13 September.