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Brands & Merch
Brands at festivals noticed and appreciated, survey says
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 31 May 2012
Brand sponsorship of festivals is a wonderful thing, so that’s good, and we know this because of new research from Havas Sports & Entertainment, which organises brand sponsorship of festivals so is definitely 100% totally impartial on this issue.
According to Havas’s ‘why brands taking over festivals is marvellous’ survey, 65% of respondents felt brands improve the festival experience, while 85% reported that they “liked the brand activations they visited” (one assumes those aren’t the actual words respondents used, unless every single respondent worked in marketing, and was the sort of person who says “wow factor” in anything other than a sarcastic voice).
Not only did consumers respond positively to brand involvement in festivals, but they frequently noticed brand activity (60% of brands active on site at any one festival were recalled) and over a third said that a brand’s involvement in a festival would make them more likely to subsequently buy that company’s products or services.
Commenting on the survey, Havas’s Fredda Hurwitz told reporters: “Our research does much to dispel the view that music festivals are a dangerous arena for brand sponsors and suggests brands are a welcome part of the festival experience if they develop activations that add value”.
He continued: “This research, combined with our own experience building campaigns for a variety of brands in music, including Orange and Coca-Cola, leads us to recommend that the best strategy for brands looking to sponsor a festival is to create exciting, unexpected experiences for fans that have a ‘wow’ factor [there it is]. Festival goers are passionate about music but they go to festivals first and foremost to live an incredible moment with friends – so signage or sampling alone will not get their attention”.
Social media is also important as part of any festival sponsorship, Hurwitz added, noting: “We found music festival goers spend an average 220% more time online than the average global consumer which indicates a memorable on-site experience combined with social network interaction could help brands build long-term relationships with music lovers”.
