In the corporate world, celebrated traditions can be hard to come by, particularly for companies who are as young as Carvana. Less than a decade old, Carvana’s beginnings were undoubtedly humble, just like any start-up seeking to distinguish itself in an uber-competitive industry where the status quo had remained unshaken and seemingly impervious to change. To set a new standard, it requires walking different, talking different, and acting different than those who have come before you, committing yourself to a better way of doing things every day while actively surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals who believe in and support your mission.
In many ways, CarvanaFest is the physical embodiment of those ideals. It’s an annual tradition that is nearly as old as Carvana itself, but is deeply rooted in the values we’ve always held near and dear, such as kindness, generosity, and a love and appreciation for the communities that have welcomed us and supported us through the years. And as we’ve grown, CarvanaFest has grown, allowing us say “Thank you!” in ways we never anticipated to the people who are responsible for our growth: our customers.
As we gear up for another year of celebrating our customers with CarvanaFest 2021 in Phoenix on December 11, we also take a look back at CarvanaFest by spending time with a few individuals who have had a direct hand in planning and pulling off this annual event to gain perspective on the time and effort behind CarvanaFest, what CarvanaFest means to them, and the purpose behind it all.
Two people, in particular, who have had an up close and personal experience with the planning and execution of CarvanaFest since its inception are Kelsey and Kristin. Together, they have a combined 15-plus years of experience at Carvana, making them two of Carvana’s most tried and true team members and some of the best equipped to see CarvanaFest through its evolution.
“My main task for CarvanaFest is to develop the design aesthetic for the event that is unique to the city,” said Kristin, a brand designer at Carvana. “In the early years before we had an events team, I got to be involved in all the party planning too, sourcing food trucks, local music, set ups, and running the event with my co-worker Kelsey and our local team members.”
“I was just kind of a solo bird working with Kristin to plan the whole event and put the staff in place for the local team to actually host it,” continued Kelsey, a senior manager for brand activation at Carvana, who went on to describe her earliest experiences with CarvanaFest as daunting for a first timer at a new company back in 2015.
“The first CarvanaFest we held was in Atlanta, Ga. in 2015, and this was just as Carvana was starting to expand,” said Kelsey. “We had never done CarvanaFest and I had only worked for the company for six months. It was a pretty small budget compared to what we have budget-wise now, but it was like, ‘Here’s a big budget to put on this big event and we want you to host every single customer we’ve ever had!’ I was definitely nervous!”
The first year jitters, while understandable, were short-lived, however, as Kelsey and Kristin ultimately went on to set an impressive bar by which all future CarvanaFests would be measured. CarvanaFest’s inaugural year was a smashing success by the modest standards at the time, as several hundred Carvana customers attended CarvanaFest 2015 in Atlanta.
“We couldn’t help but think to ourselves, ‘Who would come to a used dealership’s block party?'” said Kelsey through laughter. “And we were shocked! We had almost 400 people show up at the very first CarvanaFest, and we kind of realized that people don’t really view us as a car dealership.
“I think [the customers] felt a part of something really unique and special…these people really seemed to have a lot of pride in being a Carvana customer, and they wanted to tell their friends and bring their friends because we allowed them to bring as many guests as they wanted to. It was their way of feeling like they were part of this exclusive little club that celebrated Carvana. Of course, it didn’t hurt that we had free food and prizes and food trucks and music, but it really felt like a very community-centric event of all the folks coming together to celebrate Carvana and have a good time.”
According to Ryan Keeton, Carvana’s chief brand officer, the idea for CarvanaFest was borrowed from that of former American auto manufacturer Saturn, which held a similar kind of customer celebration event during its heyday.
“[CarvanaFest] was created as a chance to be able to say, ‘Let’s do something that’s really unique for our customers,'” said Ryan. “I think one of our muses to creating it was Saturn, and they used to do this kind of rally where all the Saturn customers would get in their cars and drive all the way back to the factory and celebrate that they were Saturn customers.
“We thought, wouldn’t it be amazing if we were to create a similar type of emotional connection where customers cared enough that they would want to come and hang out with us and have a chance for us to really celebrate them as customers. That’s really where it started and we started the process of thinking about how we wanted to do it.”
Over time, CarvanaFest has grown to the point where the invite list has multiplied many times over, as more and more car buyers have turned to Carvana as an alternative, if not the preferred choice, to the traditional car buying experience. With that, the event planning involved as it relates CarvanaFest has taken on much greater importance as well. According to Kristin, strategizing for an upcoming CarvanaFest now typically begins several months before the date of the event.
“The CarvanaFest planning process usually begins late summer with the location selection process,” said Kristin. “Once that is finalized, I get the go ahead to move forward with the design process. I always begin with the CarvanaFest poster, as this sets the design tone for the entire event and will translate into all of the additional design elements and swag that we create for the event.”
“Now there is a whole lot more [people and planning] than there used to be involved,” Kelsey continued. “Last year was a huge undertaking, because this was something that we were hosting virtually, and inviting every single Carvana customer across the board. And at that point, that was thousands and thousands of people, so we were involving a large group of folks beyond our brand and marketing teams. It’s our operations team, our email team, our legal team…we even outsourced our production company to film and host large talent, like Big Boi at the vending machine in Atlanta.
“This year, we’re kind of taking it back to that old school, local feel now that we can do live events in person, but this time we’re hosting two nights. One, which is CarvanaFest to celebrate customers, and one which is CarvanaFest to celebrate team members…it’s a big team effort 100%.”
And the effort definitely shows, as not only have the number of attendees and the star power of some of the performing acts increased exponentially, but the scope of the event has trickled down to some of the “smaller” components of the overall experience, as attendees can spend a night not only enjoying incredible live music, but delicious food options from local food vendors, games, face painting, and raffle prizes that include Apple Watches and AirPods. It all adds up, however, to something that everyone at Carvana hopes goes beyond the material for those who attend CarvanaFest.
“I hope people really feel excited and proud that we’re putting on an awesome event for not only our team members, but also our customers and the values we try to promote as a company as it relates to treating people better,” said Ryan. “It’s not really something we had to do as a business early on. There’s not a lot of tech companies or automotive retailers that are bring people together for an event that isn’t about selling something. This is about celebrating the customer and thanking them for being our customer.”
“It’s all about appreciation and love,” Kristin continued. “CarvanaFest is for our customers always and forever. It’s a small way we can say thank you to them for trusting in us and the new way to buy a car and reminding them they are a part of the Carvana family.”
“For me, CarvanaFest is a small way of showing that Carvana isn’t just this big, inhuman purchasing experience,” Kelsey concluded. “CarvanaFest is our way of getting together in a physical space and connecting with actual humans as humans…it’s something that I hope to see – no matter how big we get – as a tradition that lives on and gives us all a chance to connect as people with people who are buying cars and driving our cars. It’s special in that way, because it’s kind of what sets us apart from just being a car dealership.”
