07\03\2016
Written by Aude Chalot
BRAND ACTIVATION IN FESTIVALS
It’s no secret that brand activation is made thanks to innovation and creative concepts and that’s what is happening in international festival today.
Festivals are locations where music, culture, gastronomy, art, fashion and technology are mixed to give birth of unique artistic events.
The new trend is the will to move beyond the traditional music festival and push your boundaries by thinking of modern way to share about social, cultural and environmental subjects. The goal? Engage your spirit by being aware of the needs of today’s world and change our behaviours.
What a better way to inspire people with spokespersons such as major actual business personalities? The FURTHER FUTURE festival presented in its last edition vision speakers such as Phil Libin, CEO’s Evernote who highlighted the importance to contribute to sustainable habits.
Saul Griffith, CEO of Otherlab, at last year’s Further Future festival
Photo by Nicolas Troncin
If conferences appear during musical events, presentation and testimonies too such as in LIGHTNING IN THE BOTTLE festival where authors integrate the landscape and explain their vision about economy, travel and environment. The result lies in creating awareness in the cool way.
To bring to life sustainable actions these international cultural events create solutions to start eco friendly processes and contribute to save energy. The DGTL festival start its own revolution by reducing Co2 emission with their suppliers, working on ingenious way to use light during the concerts, selling sustainable food and products thanks to partnerships with local producers, defining a recycling plastic process and involve volunteers in a plastic fishing activity. These decisions allow to have a better impact on our planet.
Photo from DGTL festival website
These melting pot events drive are public events and their actions have a real impact on the audience as people have chosen to be here and share the same values. Moments shared in festival gave the chance to get an overview, to have a reflexion on what really matters in life including the way we live on our planet. Festivals create magic atmospheres thanks to the locations where the event is happening, often in natural and original landscapes. Thinking about reducing the footprint in our world means something when people are integrated in a beautiful natural location, because the visitor is confronted to keep places that they appreciate as clean and pure.
In a peaceful and creative atmosphere people are able to take time to think on their future and be more open-minded to talk or listen about environmental subject. When people are gathered, it creates opportunities to share, exchange and be a part of a new community.
Festival organizers start to be more and more aware of the need to reduce environmental impact, they organise plastic collects where thousands of people participate as volunteers. Cultural event’s audience reacts positively to change their behavior through their active participation during the festival. For instance, in DGTL festival a “trash army” will be defined to fight waste and keep the area clean.
Festivals represent an opportunity to spread a message to thousands of music and art lovers. There is still action to add and new ideas to develop to save the planet, but it can be confirmed that festival are becoming huge players to consider. The new perspective today is to express from new festival’s vision how to ‘aspire to inspire’.