fan zones for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament . Among the many brands it has worked with at festivals include Cadillac , Chevrolet and Google Play Music .
At the Panorama Festival in New York , its work with Google Play Music involved creating a 30-foot cube , which displayed ever changing graphics that were created and influenced by the activity around it .
“ It was a huge , beautiful block of videowalls ,” says Jack Morton strategy director Caspar Mason . “ AI learning meant it was responsive to the festival atmosphere around it . It could work out what people were saying on socials , what music was happening at the festival and so on to create reactive visuals . It was a great use of cuttingedge technology to create something that people won ’ t forget .”
At Live Nation ’ s events , Campling says Cinch went “ above and beyond ” to create activations that were “ faff-free ” experiences for attendees . In line with its brand slogan – ‘ the faff-free way to buy & sell cars ’.
“ The team worked to translate and channel the idea of faff-free to the festivalgoer experience on-site ,” he says . “ From providing unparalleled world-class activations with live bands and DJs , to amazing vantages of the main stages from their viewing platforms , to car giveaways at each festival , to chill-out areas , to charging stations ; Cinch struck the right balance of being additive to the festival experience while communicating their offering .”
Dowdy says that while often it is a case of working closely with a brand to ensure the activation is entirely complementary to an event , brands will often have a very strong idea that can work exceptionally well .
“ We have worked with Coke Zero at BST Hyde Park , and they were with us as the soft drinks partner at APE
Casper Mason
Jim Campling
this year with a really good activation . They built a retro games arcade in the general admission area . It was great fun and worked very well . They understand our events , and so for us it was just a matter of helping them tweak things as they designed and built it .”
Money Matters No matter how event enhancing the activation , the prime motivation behind the brand partnerships for promoters is obviously the financial benefit , and there has rarely been a time when profit has been more important for the festival sector .
Campling is unwilling to provide specific details as to what percentage of a typical Live Nation festival ’ s revenue comes from brand partnerships , but he says it is a considerable contribution . Business is booming , and the promoter already has sponsorship commitments for 2022 “ up double digits ” from 2019 .
Perhaps unsurprisingly , Dowdy would also rather not provide a figure , but he says the contribution is absolutely crucial : “ Along with the brand activations , the fun they bring , the colour and the marketing support , the financial investment helps us produce premium events and , frankly , helps us bring in the best artists .
Will Dowdy
“ The bigger the event we do the larger proportion of event revenue is made up of partnership revenue .”
Pandemic impact During the pandemic , particularly the lockdown periods , new digital services emerged and existing ones thrived as a result of changes in consumer behaviour .
Campling says that now live events are back , young brands such as Cinch and Zapp are eager to bridge their online presence with the physical world to show new audiences who they are and what they stand for .
“ They ’ re proving to be brilliant business models and a fascinating area for partnerships ,” he says .
Mason is convinced brand activations at festivals , and the events themselves , will evolve dramatically in the coming years due to the expectations and desires of Generation Z attendees .
He says , “ This is a new audience , an audience living in massive multiplatform , multiplayer game environments who have spent lockdown experiencing live music digitally . Generation Z ’ s expectations , mixed with the behaviours we ’ ve learned in lockdown , are going to lead to the most profound changes in technology , staging and everything about festivals going forward .”
21