February 8th, 2009

EUROSONIC

I've already mentioned the festival Eurosonic. As you know, a festival which took place in the Dutch city of Groningen, in January. I'd been fortunate enough to be invited, as one of two panel members in a discussion relating to sponsorship at festivals. Perhaps not the most inspired of festival names - a friend recently asked me how I'd got on at Technowotsit - the festival itself was very enjoyable. Mainly a music industry festival - this I didn't find too difficult to recognise - it's an event similar in style to SXSW, the Reeperbahn Festival and Iceland Airwaves, as it's made up of gigs taking place in the city's clubs, pubs and concert venues. I made the monumental gaff of not checking the schedule before travelling and thus missed the one band that I most wanted to see - Twisted Wheel - as they appeared on the Thursday night; I arrived on the Friday morning. I did get along to Neimo and You Me At Six though, before getting caught up in the main problem relating to this type of festival; queuing to get in.

The discussion took place on the Saturday morning. What with a combination of the audience being made up entirely of festival organisers and the start time being eleven o'clock, things got off to a slow start. Fabian - the other panellist - and I thus encouraged the exchange of sponsorship experiences within the audience. Unsurprisingly, there was many an example of big organisations not understanding festivals and attempting to manipulate and control the manner in which the event takes place, in return for their cash. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be too much interest in what the general public believes important in creating an enjoyable festival. What are the basics? Good music is a given, but what makes good open-air music enjoyable. Clean toilets, shelter from both bad and good weather and an event which minimises its impact on the environment?

"Why don't you suggest to your sponsor that they may want to consider sponsoring your festival toilets?"
"They'd never do that," I was told. "It doesn't relate to their product."
"They would if they had a sense of humour," I suggested.
"They don't," ninety per cent of the audience answered, in unison, referring specifically to the one sponsor we'd been discussing - a clue; huge mobile telephone network.

Chasing the big marketing buck would seem to come at a price. There is no guarantee it'll materialise - these are, after all, global companies who will be more concerned with pushing and shoving their way to the front of the bail-out package queue during 2009, in the considerable number of countries they operate in, as opposed to contributing to the enjoyment five thousand people experience during one late-July weekend. I was also left reeling by the time expected of festival organisers in the meeting and discussing business with such potential sponsors, time which could be spent organising the festival itself. Isn't the way forward thus looking to smaller businesses? They might not have as much to offer, from a monetary point of view, but, if they are local, they'll understand the festival. It may be that most of their employees attend the festival.

This is what was mostly debated. I say mostly, as one organiser clung to the idea that good toilets are secondary to his attendees getting the most out of their iPhone whilst at the festival; taking photos of the band to send home seems to be more important than paying a visit or, come to that, watching and listening to the band. Perhaps he's right; I've never been to the festival in question and I don't own an iPhone. I just know I'm looking forward to comparing brand names from last year to those I see at festivals this year.

And that toilet thing? If there's still a reluctance to let go of global business why not one of the big five UK banks as sponsor? And their respective logo at the bottom of the toilet bowl.