Best in Fest

What Best in Fest does

Best in Fest is an Irish boutique event services firm founded in 2016 by Sinead McNamara (Partnership Director) and Shell Holden (Festival Director), headquartered in Castleknock, Dublin. The company delivers four core service lines: professional event management and curation for festivals and events; sponsorship consulting (sponsorship build, revenue generation, and sponsor management); event PR and marketing (including social media management); and award-winning brand activation concepts delivered on-site at festivals for consumer brands. Its commercial offering is augmented by a training and mentoring practice following its appointment as Fáilte Ireland's preferred Festival & Event Sponsorship Training & Mentoring partner.

The firm's business model is project-based, quote-driven professional services with no proprietary technology platform or recurring SaaS-style revenue stream. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales and referral-driven, leveraging the founders' reputation within the Irish festival ecosystem, prominent client testimonials, and the Best in Fest Masterclasses (ICON and FUND) as thought-leadership events. Customer segments span consumer brands (Volkswagen, Just Eat, ESB, dmg media, Vodafone, The Happy Pear), festival organizers (Bord Bia Bloom, Forever Young Festival, Laya Healthcare's City Spectacular), government and tourism bodies (Fáilte Ireland, Waterford City & County Council), and charities/non-profits (DSPCA).

In parallel with consulting work, Best in Fest directly manages and co-owns several flagship Irish festivals, including Laya Healthcare's City Spectacular (Ireland's largest summer festival, 250,000+ annual visitors across Dublin and Cork) and Winterval (Ireland's largest Christmas festival, 500,000+ annual visitors, managed under a 2021-2023 co-direction mandate from Waterford City & County Council). The firm operates with 11-50 employees, has no disclosed external funding, and is entirely founder-owned, with revenue generated from a mix of multi-year festival co-management contracts, project-based activation fees, and training engagements.

Name

Best in Fest

Legal name

Best in Fest

Website

https://bestinfest.ie

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Best in Fest is an Irish boutique event services firm founded in 2016 by Sinead McNamara and Shell Holden, offering event management, sponsorship consulting, PR, brand activation, and festival co-direction to festivals, consumer brands, and government clients in Ireland.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Event Management Services

NAICS

Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events without Facilities (711320), Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries (711)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Festival & Event Producers/Organizers (MPAIAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Music Festival Organizers & Promoters (MPAGAAAB)

Keywords

• Festival event management
• Event sponsorship consulting
• Brand activation services
• Event PR marketing
• Conference management

Headquarters

HQ city

Castleknock

HQ country

Ireland

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Professional Services - Event Management: Full-service event curation, programming, and management for festivals and events. Includes overall project ownership and delivery.
2. Sponsorship Consulting: Sponsorship build, revenue generation, and sponsor management for festivals and events. Building sustainable sponsorship revenues for clients.
3. PR and Marketing Services: Event PR and marketing strategies, social media management for festivals and events.
4. Brand Activation: Award-winning brand activation concepts and on-site management for consumer brands at festivals.
5. Training and Mentoring: Appointed as Failte Ireland's preferred Festival & Event Sponsorship Training & Mentoring partner, delivering presentations and one-to-one mentoring sessions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Best in Fest is a festival and event consultancy that provides event curation and management, sponsorship development and management, brand activation concepts and on-site execution, event PR and marketing, and conference management. The firm serves festival organizers, consumer brands, and government tourism bodies, combining strategic consulting with direct management of flagship Irish festivals including City Spectacular, Winterval, and Waterford Harvest Festival.

Product overview

Best in Fest is an event management and sponsorship consultancy offering a unified suite of services centered on festival curation, sponsorship development, brand activation, and event marketing. Their core service offering includes event programming, management, PR & marketing, conference organization, and speaker management. They operate several flagship managed events including Laya Healthcare's City Spectacular (Ireland's largest summer festival), Winterval (Ireland's largest Christmas festival), and Waterford Harvest Festival. Additionally, they run the Best in Fest Masterclasses platform featuring ICON and FUND events for the festival industry. The company combines consultancy services with direct event operations, serving festivals, events, and brands seeking to achieve creative and commercial goals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Event Management & Curation Services Full-service event management including event curation, programming, sponsorship development, PR & marketing, brand activation, conference management, and speaker outreach for festival organizers, consumer brands, and government bodies.
• Laya Healthcare's City Spectacular Ireland's largest summer festival and second largest festival on the island, taking place annually across two consecutive July weekends in Dublin and Cork with average annual attendance of 250,000+ visitors. Best in Fest is co-owner and festival management partner.
• Winterval Ireland's largest Christmas festival taking place annually in Waterford City across 19 days with average annual attendance of 500,000+ visitors. Best in Fest appointed as Festival Co-Directors 2021–2023.
• Waterford Harvest Festival Annual September 3-day weekend festival in Waterford celebrating culinary heritage and culture of the South East with average annual attendance of 65,000+. Best in Fest appointed as Festival Co-Directors 2021–2023.
• Best in Fest Masterclasses (ICON & FUND) Educational industry events platform featuring Best in Fest FUND (2016) and Best in Fest ICON (2017) — gatherings of iconic founders and organizers from the global festival and events community. ICON held at Aviva Stadium Dublin with 550 delegates.
• Virtual Christmas Events Virtual Christmas events curated, programmed, produced, and delivered for corporate clients, featuring Irish comedians, musicians, and entertainers. Produced for clients including Vodafone Ireland, Laya Healthcare, and DMG Media Ireland.
• Bram Stoker Festival - Bleedin Deadly Standalone Halloween theatre production running over four nights at the Pillar Room, Rotunda Hospital Dublin as part of the Bram Stoker Festival. Created, curated, produced, and managed by Best in Fest.
• Bord Bia Bloom Kids Zone Curation and management of the Kids Area at Bord Bia Bloom, one of Ireland's favourite summer garden, food and family events in Phoenix Park Dublin. Commissioned in 2019 to develop and enhance the family visitor offering.

Quantifiable outcome

• 500,000+ annual visitors served through Winterval festival management
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Waterford City & County CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Appointed as Festival Co Directors 2021-2023 for Winterval (Ireland's largest Christmas festival with 500,000+ annual visitors) and Waterford Harvest Festival. Responsible for overall project management and delivery including event curation, programming, PR & marketing, social media management, sponsorship, site layout and management, post event reporting.
• Fáilte IrelandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Appointed as Failte Ireland's preferred Festival & Event Sponsorship Training & Mentoring partner to Ireland's High Impact Festival Directors & Managers. Delivered presentation on Building Sustainable Sponsorship for Festivals & Events and hosted one-to-one mentoring sessions at Festival Development Workshop December 2019.
• Laya HealthcarecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-ownership and management of Laya Healthcare's City Spectacular - Ireland's largest summer festival with 250,000+ annual visitors across Dublin and Cork venues. Established 2005, now in its 14th year.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Smyle: UK creative event production agency producing large-scale brand experiences and conferences — closely comparable in event curation, sponsorship and brand-activation services Best in Fest provides.
• MCD Productions: Ireland's largest concert and festival promoter (Electric Picnic, etc.), operating the same festival promoter-without-facility category as Best in Fest and competing for the same Irish brand-sponsorship budgets.
• POD Concerts: Irish concert and festival promoter (e.g., Malahide Castle, Irish shows), directly comparable in festival production, brand partnerships and event management focus.
• Aiken Promotions: Long-standing Irish concert, festival and event promoter; competes directly with Best in Fest for sponsorship sales and brand-activation rights across Irish festivals and live events.

Broad incumbents

• Live Nation Entertainment: Global live entertainment and sponsorship giant with festival and brand-activation capabilities across multiple markets; broad incumbent whose scale and data assets dwarf Best in Fest.
• Wasserman: Global sports, music and entertainment marketing agency with sponsorship consulting and brand-activation practices that overlap Best in Fest's sponsorship-build and brand-activation work.
• AEG Presents: Global concert and festival promoter with sponsorship and brand-partnership teams — competes for the same large-brand experiential budgets as Best in Fest but at vastly larger scale.
• Endeavor (IMG): Global talent and events group (including IMG) with sponsorship, events and brand-experience capabilities; broad incumbent offering overlapping services to enterprise brands Best in Fest serves.

Others

• BCD Meetings & Events: Large global corporate event and conference management agency — adjacent competitor for corporate conferencing and brand event mandates Best in Fest delivers (e.g., Best in Fest ICON, virtual Christmas events).

Regional players

• Festival Republic: UK-based festival organiser (Reading, Leeds, Latitude) — a near-comparable festival production and sponsorship business across the adjacent UK market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BestinFest

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Best in Fest