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In the past two years, festival sponsorship has flourished with brands increasingly eager to benefit from the popular summer events. Andy Fry looks at new partnerships emerging and the groundwork needed to activate and leverage the sponsorship.
There was no Glastonbury in the summer of 2006. But that didn't prevent the nation's youth from slinging tents on their backs and heading for outdoor music festivals up and down the UK. At Glastonbury, they were making cheese. But at events like V2006, T in the Park and The Carling Weekend, crowds of 80-100,000 were paying around £60 a day to see headlines acts such as Radiohead, Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand. Weeks before they took place, all three of the above named festivals were sold out – with the twin-venue V2006 reported to have been out of tickets within three hours.
The enthusiasm which young people show for such events (core market 18-24s) has not been lost on sponsors. Although all the action is confined to a short space of time (usually a weekend, sometimes spread across two venues), the opportunity to catch a pure youth demo in such a good mood is irresistible to clients. In an age when brands find it difficult to establish an emotional connection with audiences, there are few better ways of cutting through to them.
Of course, this claim comes with the usual health warnings. For a start, just being there is not enough. If brands want to gain benefits from summer events they need to look and feel like authentic festival-goers. This is harder for some brands to pull off than others. But it's imperative that your presence doesn't jar with expectations. If there's any chance your brand will look interfering, pushy or unfashionable it's best to seek another marketing platform.
No surprise then that the big three events mentioned above are all controlled by brands that are attractive to a youth audience. V2006 is a Virgin affair – which has Virgin Mobile as its headline sponsor. The T in T in the Park is Tennent's Lager (which launched said event in 1994) and Carling (which took over the famed Reading Festival) is a lager brand which has established its credentials through soccer.
All three of the above brands are so convinced of the value of festivals that they have elected to take ownership of them. The risk in this approach is that it can be a financial black hole if the audience/artists don't buy into the event. But the benefits are huge if you get it right. For a start, ownership means you don't have to come back and bid for rights every 2-3 years (with the chance that you might lose them). It also means that your brand (or a symbolical representation of your brand) is mentioned every time someone talks about the festival.
In logistical terms, event ownership means you can establish continuity of communications and integrate the relationship with other marketing activities more easily. For example, the fact that V2006 is part of an empire that runs radio stations and record shops means sponsor Virgin Mobile can exploit its relationship with V2006 for months in the run up to the event. In addition to this, the ability to download content via 2.5G/3G mobiles means that it is now possible to extend the relationship afterwards by offering nuggets of video to subscribers (see panel for more on Virgin Mobile involvement)
Carling and T in the Park don't have mobile channels or synergistic businesses. But they do have relationships with pubs and clubs which allow them to promote their festivals upfront. The fact that they sell lager also means they can use the events themselves as a way of generating revenue (over and above tickets).
The success of these three events has inspired other companies to try their hand at the festival game. For example, the 2006 season kicked off in June with 02 Wireless – a two-event festival which featured the likes of The Who, Depeche Mode and Massive Attack. As with the V events, there's an obvious synergy here between youth and mobile which works in 02's favour. But there are other benefits – one of which is that companies like 02 want to drive the mobile ticketing sector. Between 1999 and 2004, the UK market for online ticketing to outdoor events grew 29% to £613 million. So by associating itself with such an event, 02 is positioning itself to take a share of that pie.
The events mentioned above are well-loved and well-established. But they raise a couple of (related) questions. Firstly, can you still get involved in festivals if you're not a mobile or beer brand? Secondly, what can you do if you don't have the resources to run such an event?
On the first point, it's clear that mainstream companies need to be careful in such scenarios. Take financial services, for example. Other than doing the very handy job of providing cash dispensing machines (preferably without charges), there's not much they can do without seeming intrusive. Better, in most cases, to target family-oriented summer events or (if it is the youth market they're after) to explore opportunities such as fresher balls on college campuses where banks aren't so out of place.
Some automotive brands have managed to show up at festivals without doing more harm than good. Mini, for example, has appeared at festivals like Creamfields while Honda pitched up at Fruitstock this year (more on this event below). Clearly, there is room for manoeuvre if your car brand is perceived as cool, creative, cult or counter-culture in some respect. But it's crucial not to be oblivious to the risks. Among an audience which is likely to show higher than average sympathy towards environmental, third world aid and human rights issues, any brand that has the slightest connection with carbon emissions or unethical big business behaviour may struggle to make sense of such a scenario.
You only have to look at the way Perrier's relationship with The Edinburgh Fringe Festival has soured since the brand became part of the Nestlé stable to appreciate the sensitivities. It only takes one artist or celebrity to criticise your brand, a national newspaper to target your company or a viral campaign to gain momentum and negative PR will escalate.
So what kind of brands do fit in well at festivals? So far, we've mentioned lagers and mobile companies (to which can be added Nokia – which runs events at various festivals). Then there are the games companies like Electronic Arts and Nintendo (which runs an event called the Comedy Cafe at festivals including Download, Guilfest, T in the Park and V where visitors can see comedy while checking out products & games). Volvic has also started targeting festivals – this year sponsoring the Lovebox Weekender in London's Victoria Park. Last year, the company also put its name to V Festival's New Bands tent and Virgin Radio festival coverage.
At T in the Park 2006, meanwhile, clients supporting the event included Nintendo DS (which created Wi-Fi booths where fans had the chance to challenge rock stars to games while they were backstage), energy drink Red Bull (which entertained the crowd with tricks on vert and spine ramps) and 20th Century Fox (which set up a Campsite Cinema where fans could watch films when the music stopped).
Underlining the fact that you don't have to be a cool brand to play your part, Kodak was onsite with a digital camera kiosk while Duracell built a battery-shaped tent called The Powerhouse where top DJs provided entertainment and where it was possible to swap old batteries for new ones. High street retailer Superdrug, meanwhile, creating an experience area called Superdrug Backstage for girls to glam up, be pampered and become a festival superstar in the Hairbrush Diva karaoke competition. Even Scottish Water got branding by making sure water was available free throughout the site.
These sponsorships (by what you might call enabler brands) all show how companies can make festivals work if they find a something in their core offering that will enhance the festival-goer's experience. They also go some way to answering the point about what things you can do on limited financial resources – since all of the above are less expensive than trying to set up and run your own festival.
That said, it would be a mistake to suppose that companies which don't do festival title sponsorships are all on tight budgets. Over the years, brands like Bacardi and Strongbow have done a great (but not cheap) job of attaching themselves to festivals by organising mini touring events across a number of venues.
An obvious benefit of this is that they can reach the whole festival market (over a million fans each summer). In Bacardi's case, the focal point has been the Bacardi B-Bar concept – which in 2006 expanded to include live collaborations by world-class musicians and vocalists from various genres. Now into its eighth year on the scene, Bacardi is a regular at events like T in the Park and The Isle of Wight Festival. Also a regular at events like Isle of Wight is Strongbow – which organises live music and DJ talent under its Ciderhouse brand.
Different festivals have different approaches to the issue of second-tier sponsors. But all of them have media partners as a minimum requirement. This goes without saying really – since backing from a mainstream media company is the best way for them to a) build upfront awareness of their event b) get the widest spread of brand messages out to market.
Radio 1 was a key partner for events such as The Carling Weekend, T in the Park and Global Gathering while Channel 4 was on board for 02 Wireless, V2006 and the Rip Curl Boardmasters event in Newquay, Cornwall (more on this below). Among print publications, NME's backing was evident at T in the Park and the Carling Weekend while Metro Newspapers partnered 02 Wireless.
One of the most interesting developments in the media arena was broadband provider Tiscali's decision to sponsor The Carling Weekend in 2005 and 2006. Clearly, this arrangement is partly about building Tiscali's profile. But like the mobile activity referred to above, it also opens up the potential for video streaming. In 2005, Tiscali launched an online music service called Tiscali Sessions at the Carling Weekend. It also webcast 11 acts from the mainstage over the course of the weekend. Not only is this a great opportunity for Tiscali to distinguish its service from rivals, it's also extra exposure for the event – which is able to get far more coverage via a broadband channel than it would ever achieve on a mainstream TV network.
Of course, media's importance explains why MTV also plays such a pivotal role on the summer music scene. For some sponsors, the preferred approach is to partner an event which has been organised by MTV with a view to it being aired across more than one of its international networks. By partnering MTV, the sponsor is – in effect – guaranteeing itself on-the-ground and TV exposure in partnership with one of the world's biggest brands. That's particularly useful if your company's footprint also happens to be pan-regional like MTV's.
While most big summer festivals go after the pop/rock mainstream, there are some events which are slightly different in character. A case in point is Newquay's Rip Curl Boardmasters Unleashed. Rip Curl Boardmasters is actually a leading action sports festival which is now in its 25th year (surfing, skating etc). But in addition, it acts as host to Rizla Unleashed – a two day music festival which this year had Feeder and Starsailor among its lead music acts.
The action sports/music combo is an interesting hybrid. Although action sports culture overlaps over with the mainstream, it is still a distinctive subset of the youth demo and needs to be treated with caution by brand marketers.
Rip Curl itself is a clothing brand which was born within the surf business while Rizla is clearly entrenched as one of the world's leading iconic counterculture brands. Against that backdrop, other sponsors targeting this sector need to get the tone of their message right. If they don't they won't be accepted. But if they do, the reward is brand loyalty among a style-leading audience. Brands which have had some success in this respect include Davidoff Cool Water and Braun while Foster's – with its Australian brand links – has stepped in as the festival's beer sponsor. Radio 1 and C4 are media partners for Rip Curl Boardmasters though it's interesting again that fast-growing online community destination MySpace.com is also onboard. This is another sign of how the youth communication model is changing – and it's something sponsors need to be aware of.
Another 2006 summer festival with a distinctive flavour was Fruitstock – a jazz/world music event organised by fruit smoothies brand Innocent. Held in Regent's Park, Fruitstock was free and attracted around 80,000 visitors.
Like Boardmasters, this event works at two levels. Firstly, it's targeting an audience along demographic lines (probably broader and more upmarket than the rock festivals – bringing in teens through to family with young children). But secondly it is targeting them along attitudinal lines. Anyone who goes to Fruitstock or partners it as a sponsor is buying into the Innocent brand positioning at some level. Hence, ‘Friends of Fruitstock’ this year included Cath Kidston, Kumala, Waitrose Online, Nastro Azzuro Beer, Mumm Champagne, Early Learning Centre & Little Dish (fresh food for children). None of these are what you'd call typical Festival sponsors.
Fruitstock, then, is an interesting event to sign off with – because it's a reminder that summer has space for everyone. If you have any doubts about your brand's ability to work in the big rock festival environment then there are any number of arts, classical, community and outdoor theatre events which can be stitched together in the form of a sponsorship strategy – where the people who turn up are much more likely to be grateful for financial backing. If however it is critical to be targeting the mainstream youth demo, then it's important to check your brand's cool credentials at every level. Coming up with some genuine value-added on-the-ground activity is crucial. But if the ultimate goal is to build brand loyalty, so is a track record of taking youth issues seriously.

Panel: Virgin Mobile in Action
In 2006, Virgin Mobile sponsored the V Festival for the seventh year. So what did they do to bring the experience to life? Well, one nice touch was the ‘Virgin Mobile Moto Angels’ – a task force of festival employees who roamed around the festival site providing information, helping pitch tents, wheeling beer from the car park to the campsite, delivering breakfast in bed to campers and taking pictures that could be posted on the main stage screens.
More in line with its product, Virgin Mobile also made sure it had a line up of festival ringtones and information/gossip that could be texted to phones. Virgin Mobile airtime and phones were on sale and there was also the option of borrowing a mobile phone for the weekend on a trial basis. Virgin phone partner Motorola also provided dozens of Motorola V3i M phones to give away as competition prizes.
Virgin Mobile Moto Angels were also on stand by at recharge points across the site – where it was possible to plug in your phone and power up, no matter which network you were with. This is a key commitment (since distinguishing between fans would have a negative brand impact). That said, Virgin customers were rewarded by being able to get a free beer and a kebab and being allowed to enter a competition to watch a band from the side of the stage.

Articles written by Hollis correspondent Andy Fry.

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