Creativity has been brought to life in brick-form at The Savoy after The LEGO Group unveiled the Twelve Rebuilds of Christmas.  A rewrite of The Twelve Days of Christmas, each line of the classic Christmas carol has been re-imagined as if through the eyes of a child, so instead of Five Gold Rings and a Partridge in a Pear Tree, this year carol singers will be singing about Santa’s New Wheels and a Dragon Shaped Christmas Tree.

372,931 bricks, and 2,200 man hours have gone in to taking the song lyrics and turning them into The Twelve Rebuilds of Christmas, on display at The Savoy for the public to see until 3^rd January 2020.

This follows the recent launch of The LEGO Group’s biggest-ever global brand campaign, Rebuild the World, which champions the importance of creativity as a key 21st century skill and nurturing the belief that every child is born with incredible creative problem-solving capabilities.

Since launch in September, the Rebuild the World campaign has already seen iconic locations across the UK re-imagined and rebuilt through the eyes of children. The brand has now turned its attentions towards The Savoy, a true cultural icon in the heart of London.

The Twelve Rebuilds of Christmas aims to inspire people to champion the importance of creativity and the endless possibilities of imaginative play this festive season.

Everyone visiting the renowned London hotel will be greeted outside by ‘A Shark Land-Exploring’ in the fountain. Instead of being the one marvelled at by humans diving on holiday, this shark has come to London for a spot of sightseeing and pops on his water tank, snorkels and goggles to observe the hotel’s guests in their natural habitat.

Inside the foyer, ‘A Dragon Shaped Christmas Tree’ has taken residency. Every year he loves to put on all his festive decorations and show them off for all to see. Made of 150,000 bricks and taking 600 man hours to build this 430 kg festive fire-breather won’t be flying off any time soon!

‘A Princess Rocket Castle’, a spaceship like no other, has blasted into The Savoy to join the celebrations. Manned by a space exploring princess who has left her fairy-tale behind to travel the galaxy in her rocket castle.

These are just some of the imaginative and wonderful installations that have appeared at The Savoy overnight. Even the iconic Savoy sign on the roof has been given a festive makeover, with a LEGO Minifigure choir greeting the public as they arrive. On display until 3^rd January 2020, visitors are being encouraged to find all twelve Rebuilds of Christmas and get involved in activities taking place through November and December at The Savoy.

Every day during the installation visitors can take part in the LEGO Build to Give campaign. Visitors will have the opportunity to build a decoration, take a photo and share it on social media with #BuildToGive. For every decoration built and shared LEGO will donate a set to a child in need within hospitals, children homes, or underserved communities to play this Christmas.

Additionally, on Sunday 1st December & Sunday 15th December, The LEGO Group will be offering special workshops where visitors can join our LEGO Certified Professionals to get creative with their Build to Give decorations. Booking details will be made available in due course.

Nicola Morgan-Hulme, Senior Brand Relations Manager, UK/Ireland at The LEGO Group said, “We are excited to be partnering with The Savoy for this festive celebration. As part of our Rebuild the World campaign, this partnership is designed to inspire people of all ages to unleash their creativity and explore the limitlessness of their imagination through play. We hope that the Twelve Rebuilds of Christmas will truly inspire people to rebuild the importance of creativity this festive season.”

Ian Kidd, Hotel Manager, The Savoy, said: “With their motto ‘Only the best is good enough’, The LEGO Group is the perfect partner for us as we gear up to a festive season here at The Savoy that will delight and inspire both our grown-up and little guests alike. We’ve been blown away by the incredible creativity and passion brought to the table by the LEGO brick designers so far and are excited to able reveal the decorations for all to enjoy.”

The new festive experience follows the recent launch of the LEGO Group’s biggest-ever global brand campaign, Rebuild the World, inspiring people to champion the importance of creativity as a key 21st century skill. The campaign intends to nurture the belief that every child is born with incredible creative problem-solving capabilities – and has already seen the brand reimagine iconic locations across the UK through the eyes of children including Piccadilly Circus and Birmingham’s Bull Statue, amongst others.

The Rebuild the World campaign highlights the need to act now to nurture that creativity so that it can become a lifelong skill, and The Savoy colleagues behind the decorations for ‘All the Fun of the Fair – Savoy Festive Season 2018’, designer florist, Belinda Bowles, and carpenter, Sam Beer, worked closely with The LEGO Group on the 2019 creative concept and theme whilst gearing up to the big reveal.

The Twelve Rebuilds of Christmas will be on display at The Savoy until 3^rd January 2020. For more information please visit https://www.savoychristmas.com/.

LEGO Build to Give at The Savoy

The LEGO® Group has partnered with The Savoy this Christmas to offer special workshops where visitors can join our LEGO Certified Professionals and get creative as they build a festive decoration.  For every decoration built and shared used on social #BuildToGive The LEGO Group will donate a product to a child in need with in hospitals, children’s homes or under-served communities this Christmas.

• Date: Sunday 1^st December 2019, 11am – 4pm and Sunday 15^th December: 11am – 4pm
• Price: Free, but spaces must be reserved https://www.universe.com/LEGOBuildToGiveSavoy

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Logic Vapes are bringing the #1 selling pod device*, Logic Compact, to cities around the UK.

Logic’s Shape & Vape is an immersive and disruptive experiential pop-up shop and a highly visible brand experience; tailormade to suit adult smokers and vapers.

To create the required brand impact, a 2-container approach was used, utilising a 10m x 10m site footprint, in keeping with Logic’s brand look and feel; whilst facilitating product trial and retail.

Adult smokers and vapers who have purchased a starter pack (device and a pack of pods) can then make their appointment in the Shape & Vape salon, which includes hair cutting, beard trims and gel manicures.

Shape & Vape was live at 10am – 8pm at Bishops Square, next to Spitalfields Market in London until the 22^nd of November and now moving to Wellington Square in Manchester from the 25^th – 29^th of November. The pop-up will be rolling out in 2 other cities locations in the first quarter of 2020.

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Carina Filek, Global COO of Elevate Staffing and Staffing Partner of the IPM COGS Awards 2019, shares how brands can measure the impact of their event staffing teams

“There is no ‘i’ in team, but there is in win.” – Michael Jordan, former NBA player

A recent research brief shared three fundamental elements of experiential marketing success. They are strategy, process, and people. As a marketer, you likely create the strategy and oversee the process to execute it. But it takes that second element – people – to carry your plans through. This means, while you may be accountable for results at the end of the day, you know a win is not possible without the right team. To make matters more complex, you may have a few teams to manage. Yet, no matter what, you need to know that every person involved is equipped to achieve experiential marketing ROI. Just as there’s an ‘i’ in win, there’s also one in the ‘individuals’ who make up the teams responsible for maximizing results.

The people who interact with your target audience are the most valuable asset of experiential events. How they engage consumers in attendance will define the perception of your brand moving forward. And while there are multiple intangibles related to building relationships with consumers, there are great ways that brands can measure the impact of their event staffing teams.

How to Measure Experiential Marketing ROI of Promotional Staff

A Harvard Business School professor outlined four factors of knowing the effects of a brand experience. These are 1) attention, 2) attitude (changes), 3) interest, and 4) conversion.

At a basic level, attention is summed up by the number of consumers whose attention you capture. In experiential marketing, promo staff are often responsible for grabbing consumer attention, which is necessary to progress to the other three factors, which all provide measurement of promo staff’s impact on experiential marketing ROI. Which you choose to focus on will depend on your goal, but here are some questions you might ask are:

• Did the promo staff change attendees’ attitudes of the brand?
• How interested were consumers to learn more after engaging with promo staff?
• Are attendees ready to take the next step to a purchase?
• What was the conversion rate?

3 Ways to Determine Whether your Event Staff were Successful

1. Quizzes and Surveys.

When kept concise, surveys are a great way to gather simple, yet vital intel. They can be gamified by incorporating quizzes or other interactive questionnaires, which makes consumers more enthusiastic about participating. The data collected may be related to brand perception; for example, a survey can be conducted upon exit and ask attendees if their feelings about the brand have changed. This tactic worked for ASUS when it learned 70 percent of attendees felt “more positive” about the computer brand after engaging in its brand experience in a U.K. mall. Even better, 45 percent planned to buy a laptop as a result.

2. Sales.

When possible, the best way to know how promo staff performed is in their ability to close the sale. This might mean making product available for purchase, which is ideal for sampling initiatives in grocery stores, for instance, or when activating in other retail locations, like Weber did. The well-known brand of grills was able to attribute near a half-million pounds in sales to its promo staff at roadshow events. Yet, when conditions don’t allow consumers to take products home that day, event marketers may choose to make online sales available at the event, offering incentives like free or expedited shipping.

3. Sign-ups.

Both B2B and B2C companies find experiential events proven to generate leads. One such brand is State Farm, which uses promo staff to engage consumers at community events. In reaching and even exceeding its lead generation goal, it is able to know its staff measure up to the task. LasikPlus is another brand that activates local and bilingual brand ambassadors in targeted areas and sees an increase in qualified leads and conversion rates year-over-year.

Contingent on the goal, other brands measure success by the number of photos taken with staff or the number of demos product specialists give. When working with a promotional staffing agency, its team should provide insights to measure the impact of promo staff on your activation. A full-service agency will take it a step further to help secure these metrics for you with real-time reporting, online dashboards, and more, making it delivers the right team to bring home a win. That’s because its team knows, in the end, your success is their success.

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It’s what’s on the inside that counts, and that’s certainly true with the opening of Krispy Kreme’s indulgent doughnut playground this March.

The two-day experience, created by brand communications agency, DeVries Global, is located in the heart of Leicester Square. Guests will discover a doughnut-themed space filled with intriguing surprises, including the new Krispy Kreme Original Filled doughnuts. The pop-up will be open to the public on 8th and 9th March.

Doughnut aficionados will be able to step inside to discover the walls dripping with chocolate and caramel, suitably sweet photo moments and more. There will also be a secret ‘lucky dip’ porthole delivering delicious new Original Filled doughnuts to guests, oozing with five new tempting flavours: chocolate hazelnut spread, salted caramel and three limited edition flavours that will be completely exclusive to the event – (and those will be kept under wraps until the doors open).

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Fiona Rayner (née Tindall), Head of Experiential & International Operations at Blackjack Promotions, explores the benefits of personalisation in sensory marketing.

A nicely scented business, the ability to touch, feel and try different products, using engaging visuals and the right in-store music are just some of the multi-sensory steps that retail stores are employing to differentiate and enhance the experience over e-commerce.

And a new report* confirms that these measures are working. These steps would, in fact, persuade nine out of 10 shoppers to ditch their devices in favour of visiting high street shops that offer an enjoyable in-store atmosphere.

The study, which quizzed over 10,000 consumers across 10 countries, defines an ‘enjoyable atmosphere’ as one with the right combination of music, visuals and scent – with 78% of shoppers likely to make purchases in this kind of store.

In Travel Retail the sensory approach has always been a big driver in influencing customers, who only have a finite amount of time to make purchases before resuming their journeys.

The report cites the ability to touch, feel and try different products or services as the biggest driver in making consumers more likely to want to buy something while shopping in a store (at 56%).

I’ve always believed in the power of human touch and the benefits of having a brand ambassador to enhance a brand or retail experience. Our challenge now is to try and take this to the next level and to turn these experiences into complete brand stories and to encourage customer loyalty, as well as sales.

This could be through creating a complete themed day around a well-loved character, which tells a story through experiences in passenger lounges and via food and drink retailers.

And while pulling in all five senses – sight, sound, taste, touch and smell – is important, it also helps if consumers feel that the experience is relevant to them.

In the age of AI, algorithms and recommendation engines, digital consumers have become used to more targeted and relevant messages so we need to bring this in store too. Personalisation has become our sixth sense.

More than a third of consumers interviewed for the report (38%) said that feeling like the experience was personalised to them made them more likely to purchase something.

A great example of this currently in Travel Retail comes from Atelier Cologne in Dublin Airport. When a customer purchases a 200ml bottle, they are able to choose a beautifully designed leather pouch for their free travel sized bottle. Brand ambassadors are on hand to create a personalised label for the leather pouch, which could feature a name or a unique message if purchasing for someone else as a gift.

Camus is another great example. It provided Chinese calligraphers at Heathrow around Chinese New Year to create personalised gift tags for customers with every purchase by writing a message or their name in Mandarin. These little touches enhance the shopping experience.

Elsewhere, another interesting finding the report makes is the importance of scent psychology, with one in two consumers reporting that a nicely scented business lifts their mood. I think there’s a lot you can do with scent in Travel Retail to make it a more targeted and personalised experience.

While some retail environments use their own ‘signature scent’ by deploying diffusers in their air conditioning, some of the most innovative retailers are now even looking at using this to promote certain scents, so that when shoppers walk through a store or past a particular display, they experience this overwhelming sense of a new fragrance.

The report also suggests the importance of research and careful application of customer data to make sure the experience is relevant to the target market – especially when you’re looking at the influence of sound on consumers.

Music was cited in the report as the number one factor to improving a shopper’s mood in the store, with 85% of shoppers stating this had a positive impact. But get this wrong and more than half these respondents said they would disengage.

These findings should help all retailers focus on the experiential side of what they’re doing, so that they can create the mooted ‘enjoyable in store atmosphere’ that should see consumers returning to their stores in droves.

The challenge now is to use the data to take the in-store experience to the next level. We need to pull in the best of both worlds, combining the personalisation enjoyed by e-commerce consumers, with the sensory tools that are already starting to lure shoppers back to the high street.

*Mood Media ‘Elevating the Customer Experience: The Impact of Sensory Marketing’

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The IPM is an Association Partner of the Event Production Show and sole sponsor of the Brand Experience Theatre – a unique presentation and networking space located at the heart of the event.

On the 26th February, the IPM Experiential Community will be hosting two sessions at the Brand Experience Theatre, that can be attended by anyone who registers for a free event pass. 

Measuring the effectiveness of Experiential Marketing (11.30am, 26th February)

The first session will take place from 11:30am – 12:20pm and will focus on ‘Measuring the effectiveness of Experiential Marketing.’ The IPM Experiential Community will present their recently launched measurement and effectiveness tool and the latest data and insights. The tool reflects the IPM’s belief that experiential marketing can and should be measured and bench-marked. For the past 2½ years, the Experiential Community has been addressing this challenge and in this session will be providing an update on its exciting progress.

Presenting this session will be:

• Steve Messenger, Managing Director, RedRoute International Ltd
• Claire Grecian, Found and Managing Director, Circle Agency
• Fiona Sutherland, Client Services Director, i2i Marketing
• Carlo Montemarano, Associate Director, Haygarth
• Paul Cope, Managing Director, The IPM

How to maximise experiential staffing of the future (2pm, 26th February)

The second session, taking place from 2pm – 2.50pm will focus on experiential staffing of the future. This session will look at the trend towards commoditisation of experiential staffing and will explains why we shouldn’t forget the vital role that people will increasingly play in successful brand experiences. The Experiential Community will identify what staffing of the future will need to look like to ensure the continued success of experiential marketing, and how agencies and brands can ensure that we don’t forget the human.

Presenting this session will be:

• Andrew Orr, Client Services Director, TRO
• Helen Hanson, Founder and Creative Director, Hel’s Angels
• Neil Survilla, Business Director, Kreate
• Joe Sheppard, Managing Director, POD Staffing
• Paul Cope, Managing Director, The IPM

The Experience Economy (12.30pm, 26th February)

Taking place at 12.30pm on the Main Stage, two IPM Members will be involved in a panel discussion on the experience economy. Claire Grecian from The Circle Agency and Caspar Mason from Jack Morton Worldwide, alongside other experiential agency leaders, will talk about consumers’ raised expectations of experiential at events.

To register your interest for any of the above events, click here.

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WaterAid recently placed 800 children’s schoolbags on the famous steps of St Paul’s Cathedral as a stark reminder of the number of young children’s lives lost every single day due to dirty water and poor sanitation.

Each of the Cathedral’s 24 entrance steps represented one hour – and the 33 children younger than five who die every hour – a whole class that never even made it to school, all for the lack of something as basic as clean water.

On the bags in the front row were the names of real children whose lives were tragically cut short by diarrhoeal diseases linked to dirty water and poor sanitation, some as young as 9-month-old Arena from Madagascar, and some just about to start school, like from 5-year-old Jennifer from Zambia.

Actor Dougray Scott joined WaterAid’s thought-provoking tribute, asking the British public to support the international charity’s ‘Water Effect’ appeal to help raise £1.5 million to get clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene to more than 20 health centres around the world, helping give children the best start in life.

WaterAid Ambassador Dougray Scott, (Mission Impossible II, My Week with Marilyn, The Woman in White) said: “The sea of bags lining the steps of St Paul’s is a stark reminder of the sheer numbers of young children who won’t live long enough to make it to their first day at school because they lack something as basic as clean water. It’s a dreadful thought for any parent; and this tragic waste of life is entirely preventable.

“Through my work with WaterAid, I have seen the incredible difference clean water and decent toilets makes, particularly for children. Clean water close to home helps keep children healthy and in school, giving them the education they deserve so they can reach their potential. By supporting ‘The Water Effect’ appeal, we can all help build a brighter future for children around the world.”

One in nine people around the world lack access to clean water close to home, while one in three have no decent sanitation. Together, clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene transform people’s health and create a powerful ripple effect, enabling children to go to school and their parents to earn a better living. That’s the water effect.

Haja, 31, from Tombohuaun in the Sierra Leonean jungle, has lost two young children to diarrhoea caused by the dirty water the family drank from a natural spring. She said: “I realised after the death of my children that the water is not good to drink. I look to the future and hope that such things won’t happen again.”

WaterAid has worked in Haja’s village to bring clean water, decent sanitation and good hygiene, and continues to work with the most marginalised communities in some of the poorest places in the world.

Marcus Missen, Director of Fundraising and Communications at WaterAid, said: “Every single day, around 800 children under the age of five die because they are denied access to clean water and decent toilets. Many more will miss school because they have to spend hours collecting water or are sick from drinking dirty water. But it doesn’t have to be this way. WaterAid is working towards a world where everyone everywhere has clean water and decent sanitation, and all of us can help make this a reality. Even small donations to our ‘Water Effect’ appeal could help make all the difference, helping to transform a child’s life.”

Children aged from five to 11 from Wyvil Primary School in London painted a sign to appear at the front of the steps at St Paul’s Cathedral. Joana, aged 9, a pupil from the school who came to see the installation, said: “I can’t understand why some children don’t have water. It’s not very fair – I want water for everyone!”

Sue Armitage, art teacher at Wyvil Primary School said: “The children at our school were shocked to learn just how many children their age have no clean water to drink; they’re eager to support WaterAid to help change the lives of others for the better.”

For more information or to donate, please visit www.wateraid.org/uk/children.

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The Economist, a leading source of analysis on international business and world affairs, recently expanded on its new ‘Never Stop Questioning’ TV commercials with a companion experiential activation at London Victoria train station. The experience was conceived and brought to life by brand experience agency Sense London.

The experience continued the guiding thought of The Economist’s new TV ads – the value of always questioning the world around us – by displaying the thought-provoking questions featured in the direct response commercial on a large interactive screen within the station. The questions are based on articles from The Economist, including ‘Does social media help or harm democracy?’ and ‘Are plastic bags better for the ocean than paper ones?’

As each question was displayed, passers-by were encouraged to interact with a button on the screen to find out the answer. When pressed, the button triggered the screen’s integrated printer to release a preview of the corresponding article. QR codes on both the print out and screen took users to the full article on Economist.com, where non-subscribers could also register for free access.

“At The Economist, we have always believed it is by posing and debating difficult questions that society progresses and moves forward. This experience brings to life the idea that we survive and thrive by asking why,” said Mark Cripps, Chief Marketing Officer at The Economist. “By consuming our content, readers will be better armed with the tools they need to prepare themselves for the future.”

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Air Canada is running a pop-up restaurant serving gourmet versions of Canada’s national dish, Poutine, inspired by a selection of the airline’s destinations, for the second year running.

The ‘Poutinerie by Air Canada’, currently open in London’s Old Spitalfields Market, is offering variants of the dish – which usually consists of chips, curd cheese and gravy – including Hawaiian Loco Moco, Cancun’s Mayan Enchilada and Melbourne’s Prawn Star Chips.

The pop-up features an indoor and a covered outdoor area where visitors can enjoy their dishes with a selection of beer and wine, with destination-inspired music and imagery. There will also be a Virtual Reality (VR) installation allowing people to experience being on board an Air Canada flight. Visitors will also have the chance to win flights to one of the over 200 global destinations the carrier flies to.

The pop-up, created and managed for Air Canada by agency JWT London, runs until Sunday 14^th October. Proceeds from the activity will again support Great Ormond Street Children’s Charity.

Last year’s La Poutinerie activation, in Shoreditch, sold 2,133 meals and reached 47 million people via earned and owned media content, according to JWT.

The activation is part of an integrated campaign showcasing some of Air Canada’s ‘hidden gem’ destinations via Out Of Home, print, radio, video, social and programmatic channels around London.

Air Canada is Canada’s largest domestic and international airline, serving more than 220 airports on six continents and carrying more than 48 million passengers in 2017.

J. Walter Thompson London is a communications agency which offers a range of services including advertising, digital, social media, content, insight, shopper, experiential, employee engagement and partnership marketing. It is part of WPP Group.

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What happens to the festival industry in a year when the greatest show on earth, Glastonbury, takes a year out, asks Orla Ryan of ignis

When Glastonbury, a festival the size of Southern England’s seventh largest city, takes a fallow year, you would think that the rest of the festival calendar would reap the rewards – but has it?

Yes, some of the events have filled their fields, some have even hit record numbers. Others have struggled, some have even fallen by the way-side. By no means has it been a bumper year for the industry. So where have the Glastonbury masses gone? And how do you ensure your brand is  investing in an event that is going to deliver?

With 135,000 tickets on offer and two million applicants, each year’s Glastonbury show brings disappointment to roughly 1,865,000 people. That’s a lot of people who have gathered to plan and plot their festival attendance. Having collectively bought into the concept of the festival experience, all it takes is for one of the group to ask, ‘so where now?’ and plans are re-plotted elsewhere. In a year without Glastonbury, these fledgling festival plans never got off the ground, and the disappointed masses were simply not there to be absorbed.

So, what does it all mean for next year? We have digested the 2018 season, beyond the promoter stats and demographics, to analyse some of the trends when considering brand investment in festivals in 2019.

It’s a sell out! (or is it…?)

The true attendance figures of each festival are always difficult to unpick. No show ever wants to admit that they have under-achieved. Having rattled around festival fields for a few years now like we have, you get the feel (and the data) to tell you when an event is under-performing, and 2018 has seen a few of those.

As a brand, how do you know whether or not to believe in the audience figures that are being sold to you? The only answers I can give you are knowledge, experience and a view of the wider picture than the individual promoter is selling you. Be sure of the credentials behind new events, beware of exaggerated growth claims and consider whether the event is delivering ‘best in class’ in the genre in which it exists.

With the disappointed 1,865,000 back in the mix and with so many great events on offer, 2019 has all the credentials to be a booming festival year.

Does the experience outweigh the effort?

Emerging onto the scene in 2004, Bestival and Secret Garden Party were refreshing new concepts – music festivals that were not about the music.

Now, 14 years later, Secret Garden Party is no more, and Bestival has been refreshed after a few tough years. But why? What went wrong for these festival pioneers?

I don’t believe that the concept of putting on a fabulous party is, or ever will be, dead. It’s more that the rest of the festival industry caught up with the realisation that a festival is about experience, and so there are now more events than ever delivering truly great experiences, and the competition is fierce.

In essence, in order to attract the audiences, it comes down to whether the experience is worth the effort of the festival hardships: the travel, the weather, the tent, the port-a-loos… The cons list is long.

When you are no longer the stand out and most unusual event of the year, you need to remove obstacles to remain relevant. For example, in order to survive, Bestival removed one significant obstacle – the Isle of Wight ferry – by shifting location from the island to the Lulworth estate in Dorset!

Urbanisation

One genre of festival that cuts out a number of the festival obstacles is the urban festival. For those less keen on the idea of three days of camping and with more attainably-priced day tickets on offer, urban events become a more accessible option.

With articles on ‘how to ace a one-day festival’ appearing in this year’s Time Out festival guide, you get a real sense of the growth of these events.

The ‘promoter chess’ (which has seen Wireless move to Finsbury Park, Lovebox to Gunnersbury, Field Day to Brockwell and All Points East stake a claim in Victoria Park) just shows how much competition and appetite there is.

London is not the only city hosting these Urban shows – TRNSMT, Parklife and Tramlines are increasingly popular events held in Urban spaces across the country.

These urban parks are also playing host to a wide array of events, aside from pure music festivals. Melas (from the Sanskrit for a gathering, festival or fair) delivering culture and creativity, and festive shows taking winter residencies, provide colour and choice to the event space. The diversity of events on offer provide distinct audiences and an array of opportunities relevant to different brands.

With a reduced initial outlay, and fewer days to budget for, the on-site spend at these events is often much higher, which can make them an attractive option where sales are a factor.

Outstanding in their fields

So which events looked tipped to thrive in 2019?

From the Michelin stars and champagne bars of Wilderness to the immersive theatrical spectacle that is Boomtown, these events are producing true ‘best-in-class’ offerings. Creamfields is another event that has a single-minded purpose in delivering the best EDM (Electronic Dance Music) experience going.

These events attract wildly differing audiences, but they know what they stand for and strive to produce the best in what they do.

Reading and Leeds, on the other hand – with a diversified line-up – missed the mark this year. Their line-up, still an important factor for most music festivals, was found lacking. The traditionally Rock’n’Roll based pair of festivals branched out into a much more Urban scene this year which, rather than attracting a more diverse audience, left it confused. I am sure these festival giants will be back on track next year, but it just shows that even the big events can get it wrong some years too.

Do it different

So how should a brand engage within the festival arena for 2019? It is about fitting in and standing out at the same time.

Find a fit with the festival-going human and be relevant to them. Don’t, however, slavishly follow the standard festival format. Expecting consumers to hunt out your allotted 10 X 10 space is not going to give you the return that you are looking for.

Look to stand out. Do different. Think about how the audience will engage, and what your brand offers that is unique. Consider how you can generate a buzz about your brand, not just about the brand space that you could create.

Hot

Immersive events – the experience is everything

Urban events – making the festival experience more accessible

Whatsapp – the unglamorous glue that holds a festival squad together

Not

Middle of the road – know what you stand for and be the best at it

Secondary ticketing – the rebellion against over-priced tickets is on

Single use plastic – Glastonbury has banned plastic water bottles in 2019

Orla Ryan is Head of Experiential at ignis, a multi-award winning independent brand experience agency based in Fulham. Over its 29-year history, it has worked for a wide range of clients ranging from Jameson Whiskey, Sheraton Hotels and Fuller’s, to Betfair and Cuticura. A member of the Institute of Promotional Marketing, ignis won two Gold trophies and a Silver for its #JamesonBeOriginal360 experience work for Pernod Ricard Travel Retail and Jameson in the IPM Awards 2017; the same campaign then went on to win a Silver and a Bronze in the pan-European IMC Awards.

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