MAY | TRENDING
Co-op, or not?
Supermarkets are coming to a festival near
you, but is this a convenience too far?
F
estivals are increasingly becoming
a home away from home, with event
sites resembling your home city, but
with more grass.
Popping down to the local Co-op is the
latest everyday occurrence to translate into
your festival life. But is this a fridge too far
for festivals?
Co-op last month announced an exclusive
partnership with Live Nation to become the
fi rst UK food retailer to have a supermarket
at four major summer music festivals.
Download, Latitude, and Reading
and Leeds festivals will all welcome the
convenience retailer into their grounds for
the fi rst time. The deal will see Co-op operate
a 560sqm shop at each of the four festivals to
cater for 200,000 festival goers.
Each store will stock a wide range of
items, including food, water, beer and wine,
toiletries including medicines and, to cover
all eventualities, both sun cream and rain
ponchos.
Amanda Jennings, director of marketing
communications, Co-op says: “This industry-
fi rst deal puts Co-op at the heart of festival
communities this summer. It shows our
ambition to reach out to new and younger
customers, providing essential and quality
products. Co-op is all about being close to the
customer and it doesn’t get much closer than
18
being right outside your tent.”
Melvin Benn, MD Festival Republic says:
“We want festival-goers to have the best
possible experience while at our events and
are always looking for partnerships that
enhance this. Having an environmentally-
conscious food retailer like Co-op onsite
will give fans easy access to all the products
they need while at our festival campsites,
while reinforcing our green principles. We
look forward to working closely with Co-op
throughout the summer.”
However, the wider industry has been
sceptical of having such builds at their own
events. Alun Mainwaring, head of events and
fi lming, The Royal Parks tells Access he’s not
received an approach from supermarkets
to appear on site, but adds that guidelines
within each event vary, but make such a
venture unlikely to be green-lighted.
“At Winter Wonderland, for example,
there might be one retail outlet there, due
to the sponsor, but we wouldn’t put in a
supermarket. We try to make event sites as
pretty as possible. It’s amazing what food
options are out there now, with really unique
suppliers catering for every requirement.
And that’s all part of coming to events. My
initial thought is that having a supermarket
doesn’t feel that special.”
Luke Huxham, Portmeirion’s Festival No
6 organiser, says the idea might suit some
festivals. He tells Access: “At Festival No.6 we
pride ourselves on introducing things you’d
never see anywhere else. We’re trying to do
something diff erent. But, there’s two sides
of fence with festivals. Many are very anti
corporate, others will see the value. If a brand
has a reason to be there and adds value,
giving something new to audience that
they wouldn’t have, then there’s a strong
argument for having it. The cost of festivals
is high and brand money is important. Some
brands work at some festivals, others not so
much.