One of the notable differences at this years Sasquatch! Music Festival in the Gorge was the increased amount of brand advertising. As your standing in the crowd watching your favorite artist play, you can’t help but notice the gigantic Twix bar ads on either side of the stage. #lefttwix #righttwix. Corporate sponsorship was everywhere this year.
The first tweet the Sasquatch! Festival posted on Monday used Bud Light’s marketing slogan #upforwhatever. Bud Light had their own party deck along the main stage where festival goers could join the fun if they proved they were “up for whatever”. The main pull to get into the party deck, $3 beers verses the $11.50 beers in the rest of the festival.
Red Bull, Uber, 7-Eleven and many others were all over the festival promoting their products and brand. Sasquatch! not only had marketing messages all over the festival, but their social media feeds were pretty much filled with tweets about corporate sponsors.
People come to festivals for the music, art and creativity, not to be bombarded by advertisements. With music festivals becoming more mainstream every year, it is only a matter of time before they add more and more sponsorship and brand advertising.