Dropping the Ball on Branding

With the increasingly popular music festivals like Govenor's Ball on Randall's Island, brands are able to reach a new segment of consumers with exciting and unique ideas!

Governor's Ball Music Festival

Though this wasn't the largest of music festivals, it still presented a unique environment for brands to embrace the crowds. Governor's Ball brought "22 1/2 hours of music to Randall's Island on Saturday and Sunday [and] was relatively modest as festivals go: about 21,000 people each day." (Source) 

With music festivals like Governor's Ball, Stagecoach, Coachella, and many more taking place all over the world, a new market for brands has been created. Featuring many different sponsors, Governor's Ball used new and creative ways to attract consumers to both newer and already well known brands. Examples of brands using the music festival's to their advantage over the June 7-9th weekend included:

Blu Electronic Cigarettes: Recently trending are electronic cigarettes. Blu e-Cigs sponsored one of the coolest set ups at the festival, the Vapor Lounge. At the Vapor Lounge, guests were invited to stop in to use device charging stations, use social media photo booths, and even try out and sample Blu's latest products. The Vapor Lounge also featured surprise guest appearances throughout the festival- something sure to get people's attention. Blu used ticket give aways prior to the music festival in order to redirect traffic to their websites and product locations ahead of time. This was a large sponsorship for this up and coming brand and it will certainly add to their recent success.


Camelbak: Being pretty well known for their reusable water bottles, they sponsored Governor's Ball in a big way. Concerts are infamous for their overpriced food and drinks. With that said, 
Camelbak embraced the opportunity to provide thousands of people with free water. They provided 8 refillable water stations for festival-goers to rehydrate. Additionally, they promoted an environmentally friendly way to drink water, which has a growing appeal amongst consumers. 

Onomonomedia: On the rise with their event photo booths is Onomonomedia. Their innovative photo booths specialize in uploading pictures straight to social media websites like FaceBook and Twitter. You are also able to share your photos via email to ensure you don't forget that fun or special moment. At Governor's Ball they placed two of their photo booths for the fun and wild fans to remember their time well spent. 

Sennheiser: A growing, premium audio company set up "The Silent Disco" for those at the Governor's Ball to enjoy. "The Silent Disco" allowed music fans to put on high quality, wireless headphones and listen in to the different DJs from afar. Whether you needed a break from the crowded stages or wanted to chat with friends and check in on the performances frequently, they created a unique way to advertise their advancing products.

Other brands responsible for similar sponsorships in the few past years include: Pop Up Yoga NYC, Hi-Chew, Skyy Vodka, Ben & Jerry's, Yelp, Pop Chips, Zia Records, Toyota, Budlight, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, and many others.

Along with these activities and sponsorships, these festivals usually operate high activity websites, where your brand, if featured, will receive a lot of publicity.

Sponsorships like these allow brands to be seen by thousands of people, usually of massive diversity, in a short period of time. It can often increase their sales and popularity rather quickly, giving brands a large incentive to participate in events like this. If your brand wants to associate with a favorite genre of music, say country for example, saddle up and prep an event for Stagecoach or the CMA Music Festival.

'Tis the Season- for Weddings that is!

Wake up and smell the roses, wedding season is in the air! 

As we move through spring and into summer, Wedding Season is fast approaching! "June has long been the most popular month to get married-- in 2012, 17% of American couples tied the knot in this early summer month."(source) This is an excellent time for companies to use these special occasions as a perfect platform or promotion for their products and brands. Whether companies choose to alter their typical products to incorporate the wedding state of mind, or simply embrace the season in their advertising, this is a crucial time for brands to capitalize. 

Advertisements Embracing the Season
Alter advertisements to reach new brides

Often during spring and summer companies will alter their advertisements to embrace the increasing quantity of weddings. This is an efficient way for companies to reach consumers with weddings on their mind.

Gillette took their usual goddess-emphasizing Venus Razor to a new level during wedding season, advertising the legs of a bride next to her groom. With her "seriously smooth legs," her garter slid right down to the top of her foot. Every bride strives to look perfect on their wedding day; With advertisements like this not only will it catch the eye of brides-to-be, but any girl or woman paying attention to their appearance. Advertisements like this are a great way to expand your consumer base.

Another company trying to distinguish itself during this special season is Crest. Focusing on their whitening products, they have released advertisements showcasing how well their toothpastes and Crest Whitestrips work. Demonstrating the success of these whitening products on a bride wearing all white is a great way for Crest to make a pretty large statement.


Wedding Inspired Product Creativity
Develop new products to expand your audience

Other brands develop an entirely new product line to market during wedding season. These enhanced product lines capture the attention of brides who maybe wouldn't have used your brand otherwise. It also gives your brand a great edge over competition. If competing brands don't offer these same specialty items, consumers will have no choice but to look to you.

A brand that has utilized this strategy before is Philosophy Skin Care. Philosophy has used both previous skin care lines with new and adapted packaging, and also designed a new line specifically for brides. The idea behind using their previous skin care lines (like Hope in a Jar) and adding it into their "Here Comes the Bride" package is smart because existing customers may already use and enjoy this product regularly and may now splurge on the extras. These existing customers may also spread the word to their soon-to-be-married friends.

However, Philosophy has gone beyond this special package and created "The Bridal Party" shower gel set. Including scents such as "Wedding Cake," "Bubbly," and "Bridal Bouquet," these products or product packages make for great gifts throughout the wedding planning process. Altering product lines like this draw in consumers that may continue to try other products under the Philosophy brand in the future.

      

 

Another brand that has used a similar idea is Essie. Constantly releasing new colors, Essie creates a bridal polish line each season in hopes of reaching those brides-to-be. With lighter shades of cream and pink they creatively name these colors things like "tie the knot" or "happily ever after." Something as small seeming as a nail polish can play a crucial role on your wedding day and this provides a way to reach out to more consumers and differentiate yourself from other competing brands. 

Bridal Specials 

Many specials are offered to engaged couples or future brides during this season as well. Different workout specials are offered to get brides in shape prior to the big day such as Pure Barre's three month unlimited Bride-to-be Special. Also known to offer special packages or giveaways are: Baked Tanning,  Clarisonic, Macy's "Scan for a Grand," and other similar products and services.

Whether you're a well-known beauty brand like Philosophy or an essential daily necessity like Gillette razors, you should utilize this time to promote your brand. Developing new product lines or just simply adapting your advertisements to the upcoming occasion, wedding season can really be leveraged to amplify your brand.

Throughout the next couple of months, be sure to look for ways to promote the perfect brands and products for the perfect day!