At first glance it would appear that brand activity at festivals has declined in the past festival year. However, I honestly believe that it is not purely the case that brands are withdrawing, but that they are actually being less frivolous about their choice of festival. It appears that the “build it, brand it and they will come” approach is a thing of the past and rightly so. I’m an advocate of the collaboration of brands and music as long as it is an enhancement of the music experience as opposed to a distraction or interruption. The last season of festivals really started to show signs of brands trying to totally interrupt the experience. One such example was the inclusion of a skate half pipe provided by an energy drink during a wet Wireless festival in 2008, it was of no value to any of the punters and it was in fact closed for the majority of the event. This year’s Wireless Festival was as good brandless from an experience point of view and it was really noticeable. What was the reason? One brand left and the others followed? Brands had less spend? To be honest, I am not sure but the thought that it was recession based was alleviated when I visited Lovebox the following month.
This year’s Lovebox was saturated with brand activity and if I am really honest, it was not a negative. The fact that there were so many brands there actually worked: the experiences really enhanced the event and the punters sure as hell got into all of the brand spaces I visited.
Clever brands are embracing experiences that are relevant and more often than not involve a great music experience in their own right. It’s not rocket science and it certainly isn’t groundbreaking to make a music event within a music event: Bacardi and Strongbow have been doing it for years with great success and now brands such as Rizla are following suit and building a hell of a following in the process.
Innovation is not necessarily the key to a successful activity, the key is relevance and enhancement. There have been some wonderfully simple executions that will be embraced and advocated by festival visitors - campaigns such as the 10p on a cup by Carling, or the Rizla invisible players for Rizla by Exposure. These memorable branded experiences do a great job with engagement and are very simple to execute, but I am sure they will be around as long as the very successful Strongbow Rooms and The Bacardi B-Bar.
Ian Irving, commercial director, Sledge
