Summer Festivals Lacking Sponsorship Shine

The pinnacle of the summer music season, Glastonbury Festival, starts this week. Shockingly, whilst the notoriously anti-corporate event still attracts tens of thousands of festival-goers; a combination of poor weather, lack of diversity and a new approach to music sponsorship strategy mean other music festivals are beginning to lose their shine among brands.

In the past, brands have been quick to jump at the chance of sponsoring the majority of the hundreds of festivals that now run in the UK each year; keen to capture the attention of a young audience with high disposable income. Wireless festival, held in London, has gone through three sponsors (O2, Barclaycard and Yahoo) alone in the past five years, whilst alcohol brands such as Carling, Smirnoff, Tennent’s and Budweiser are almost permanent festival fixtures.

However, there are signs that the shine of festivals is beginning to fade amongst revellers and brands. This month’s Isle of Wight festival failed to sell out, with weekend passes even being offered by secondary ticketing websites for half their price a week before the event. Andy Kenny, Managing Director of sports and entertainment marketing agency BrandRapport, says festival sponsorship has ‘lost its sheen’. He adds; ‘Festivals are limited to summer months and are then vulnerable to being adversely affected by the weather. Sponsors like continuity and consistency which encourages them to commit greater resources to develop more detailed and advanced support’.

In recent years, in order to add stability, brands have embraced music sponsorship through one of two paths, either through a global brand ambassador, such as Pepsi’s links with Beyoncé and BlackBerry hiring Alicia Keys, or through technology; Coca-Cola and Spotify’s ‘global strategic partnership’ for example. We think these partnerships are always interesting to see and create a talking point amongst consumers unlike festival sponsorship, which is often not the central focus of the festival itself and can be ignored by target markets. However, despite all this and the wet weather, we do still wish we were at Glastonbury this week!