Marketers Return to Summer Music Festivals, Seeking Millennials
Five Marketing Trends at This Year's Fests
Not sponsoring the festival. Organizers don't like it but some brands are putting their spending into bespoke experiences outside festival grounds. General Motors last weekend partnered with McDonald's and L.A. nightclub Bootsy Bellows on a celebrity-studded party that was only near Coachella, not part of it. Guests could ride in G.M.'s new Stingray, with a professional driver at the wheel.
"Our formula is not to be at the festival, because outside the festival grounds a person can have a driving experience," said Dave Barthmus, general manager-GM West Coast Communications. "You can create your own environment, plus it's more cost efficient because there isn't the cost of being on the Coachella grounds."
Pampering sweaty festival-goers. Music festivals can be exhausting and dirty, but marketers are providing respite. At Bonnaroo, for instance, Garnier served up hair-washing stations and Mattel offered gaming tents. Mr. Johns sees even more opportunity in this space for brands. Imagine a toilet-paper company sponsoring a luxurious bathroom experience or a telecommunications company providing reliable service. "It's not being fully tapped," he said.
Invading EDM. Electronic dance music is among the music industry's trendiest genres. Huge crowds of millennials turn out for DJs like Avicii and Skrillex, with brands including Anheuser Busch, Motorola and Heineken now in tow. With EDM, however, booze marketers seem to be paying special attention to responsible marketing and safety: Heineken introduced a campaign this year with the theme "Dance More, Drink Slow."
Mining for content. GM is posting video and photos from its Coachella-adjacent party on its Drive the District blog, according to Mr. Barthmus. "A lot of what we do is driven by media content," he said. "If there is a program that isn't content worthy, we probably don't do it."
Finding attendees on their smartphones. Coachella's mobile app can send users push notifications triggered by proximity to beacons placed around the festival. It's unclear whether sponsors are able to participate in those push notifications, and Coachella representatives didn't respond to a request for comment, but rest assured that the tactic is coming.
By Michael Sebastian. Published on April 16, 2014. Photo: Jason Bergman, Pitchfork
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