There is truth in the saying that Tomorrowland is a unique and magical experience. It’s all thanks to brothers and co-founders Manu and Michiel Beers, who have transformed Tomorrowland into its own world.
It’s not until the event’s full egress will you believe that the annual electronic music festival actually takes place at the public De Schorre Park in Boom, Belgium. The town, located in the province of Antwerp, is home to about 20,000 people, and their homes are adorned with Tomorrowland flags as they welcome the horde of festival goers that flood the grounds over the festival’s two weekends. There is a strong sense of acceptance and even excitement from the neighborhood as you drive by the tranquil streets — something Manu and Michiel purposely cultivated as a sign of respect to their festival’s neighbors. Over the years, the Beers brothers and their team have begun annually inviting the residents to the festival, holding important meetings with them, providing a neighborhood newspaper and even setting up a small office to address any concerns they have before and during Tomorrowland.
Building a community across all the groups of people involved in this festival is one of the practices that have made the Tomorrowland brand a massive success. They put themselves in the shoes of these people, who have become the center of the brand. “In every aspect, we always think of how we would like to be treated. We really see how we can service the visitor in the best possible way,” Michiel says. They cater to everybody’s physical, financial and psychological needs, ranging from a variety of lodging options at their DreamVille camping grounds to above-average food for festival goers, a comforting sense of homecoming for the performing artists and a more relaxing working backdrop for the crew. It’s not easy, the co-founder admits, with the attendance of 400,000 people, weather and artist popularity, but with two decades of experience under their belts, they’ve managed to create a safe and welcoming environment for their visitors. “People feel it,” Michiel adds, “and if people feel comfortable and relaxed, they look forward to being there. And then you get to the magic, which is hard to describe if you haven’t been to the festival.”
“It’s about keeping that balance between continuously being a super good music festival, and doing creative, beautiful and magical world building. And I think that’s part of the unique DNA of Tomorrowland.”
Beers isn’t saying that just to add fluff to the Tomorrowland brand. The experience is so coveted that securing one of the 400,000 available tickets is like winning the music festival lottery — all passes were sold out in just 27 minutes. Those who had luck on their side were treated to an exceptionally significant three-day event as Tomorrowland laid out their 20th anniversary theme of “Life,” one of the brand’s worlds and the focus of their latest fantasy adventure novel, The Spirit of Life. For the past three years, they’ve been crafting comprehensive backstories for the festival’s themes that allow festival goers to deeply understand the details of the main stage, and for their vicennial edition, it was adorned with carved rock giants, little houses and the fully-mechanized blooming Mother Flower as its centerpiece. But Beers clarifies that the book isn’t just for their attendees. In fact, it aids in the creation of the main stage that has since become a distinctive, back-and-forth process between Tomorrowland’s creative and writing departments.
“We try to create this unique world that allows people to forget everything outside of it. I’m not saying that all our visitors will be interested in that, because a lot of them come for the music and are not really into the storytelling, but a lot of our visitors are also super enthusiastic and want to know everything about it,” he shares. “It’s about keeping that balance between continuously being a super good music festival, and doing creative, beautiful and magical world building. And I think that’s part of the unique DNA of Tomorrowland.”
“And like you said,” Beers continues, “it’s like you’re in this world of its own. That’s what we’re trying to create, and that’s an important part of it. Storytelling became more important the last few years so you try to make sure that everything matches that DNA.”
That “unique DNA” of Tomorrowland is fuelled by one characteristic that’s remained unchanged over the past 20 years: passion. Michiel and Manu started off with staff in the single digits, but that’s since grown to 250 people — none of whom were let go or made redundant during the pandemic. These people have continuously held the same passion of the Beers brothers in their heads and hearts, and they have the same fire to make everything they do special despite the festival’s boundless growth and the brand’s expansive foray into fashion, numerous restaurants, literature and even a rollercoaster and an aqua park just to name a few. As a young, first-generation brand, Tomorrowland is always looking to see how far they can push the envelope and be influential outside of their music festival. “With that vision, we evolve from a festival brand and more into an entertainment brand. That can be with One World Radio, the record label or the fantasy storytelling,” Beers says. “And a lot of those other projects, like the rollercoaster, is our belief that we can bring a bit of the core values of our DNA into people’s lives every day. That’s something beautiful and something we want to realize more and more.”
“You have to be patient, and you have to be passionate every day…Beautiful IPs aren’t built over two, three years.”
However, not every creative idea they dream up becomes an instant reality. Michiel explains that they always have more ideas that they can actually execute year after year, but they do prioritize the areas that will help them better the visitor experience. But with the rapid growth of technological advancements and the need to improve the festival every year, these ideas can take up to two or three years to fully materialize. If anything, it’s taught the brand the importance of perseverance. “We’re not a very patient organization,” Michiel admits, “we like to have an idea and implement it, but we have to think years in advance because things become so complex in techniques. There’s a lot of boxes we want to check before implementing anything. That takes time.”
Another one of the brand’s strengths is its independence. Tomorrowland has been a family company ever since, with the Beers brothers retaining sole ownership. They have no external shareholders, don’t have private equity involved and are not for sale. “We do crazy things that wouldn’t have been possible if we had to present numbers to shareholders,” Michiel says. They’ve had the opportunity to build a healthy company filled with young people who are motivated to be better in every domain they enter. “From the operational side of things to finance and partnerships, that combination makes us raise the bar every year. This is one of the things I’m proud of.”
“The very essence of our festival is bringing the world together.”
It’s easy to assume that the process of expanding the Tomorrowland brand is now like clockwork. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Michiel looks back at the lore of Tomorrowland with some love, even if the festival almost ended before it even started (their business partner refused to allow the use of the original “Mysteryland” name, and their big-name headliner, Tiësto, pulled out at the last minute). He previously referred to that incident as “dodging the Mysteryland bullet,” as it helped shape the Tomorrowland festival and brand we know today. “We had difficult times 20 years, 12 years, six years ago and even today. Every day is a challenge,” Michiel says. “You have to be patient, and you have to be passionate every day. You need good friends that are professional and balance those things in between. Beautiful IPs aren’t built over two, three years.”
20 years happened in a flash, but it was also a long, long journey for Tomorrowland. They’ve successfully built the foundation to become an everlasting brand and their path to expansion is only starting. The Beers are painfully aware of the fact that not everything they touch turns into gold (although it’s easy to assume otherwise), but they’re willing to put in the work to build things that are fused with the Tomorrowland DNA — and with the electronic music festival still at the heart. “I think the very essence of our festival is bringing the world together. We have visitors from all over the world uniting at this very small place in Belgium and having the best time of their lives together,” Michiel warmly affirms. “That shows that the world can be a beautiful place when people unite the way they do at Tomorrowland.”
“If we can bring a bit of that positivity into the world, that would be a difficult but beautiful contribution. It’s something that’s happened over the years, and if we can keep on doing that, it will be something to cherish.”
