Retailers and brands capitalise on festival season
Festivals are a great way to build engagement and retailers are finally beginning to get in on the act.
For many, the start of summer means one thing and one thing only. Festival season. More than seven million people donned their glitter, wellies and flower garlands in 2018. Every year that number swells as new festivals emerge, with a staggering 700 events in this country alone.
Excited festivalgoers aren’t afraid to shell out for a good time either. Annual consumer spend on the UK festival circuit is fast approaching £200m a year, with alcohol accounting for more than half of those sales, according to research group CGA. The report found festivalgoers spend an average of £32.27 a day on alcohol and £23.71 on food.
It’s unsurprising then that FMCG brands and retailers are increasingly spotting the opportunity to use such events as a platform not only to promote but also to sell or sample products.
For years now food and drink brands have been mixing it at festivals. Brothers Cider took its first stand at Glastonbury in 1995. And the list of startups who can credit the genesis of the business to a music festival includes Innocent (1998) and Shaken Udder (2004).
Retailers, on the other hand, are a more recent arrival on the festival scene. Last year, the Co-op became the first major supermarket to sign a deal with Live Nation for pop-up stores at four major music festivals – Download, Latitude, Reading and Leeds. The partnership proved so successful that this year the Co-op will be doubling its roster, adding Creamfields, Isle of Wight, Belladrum and Glastonbury.
