Marketing Intelligence & Planning

The impact of brand sponsorship of music festivals

Jennifer Rowley, Catrin Williams,
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Jennifer Rowley, Catrin Williams, (2008) "The impact of brand sponsorship of music festivals", Marketing
Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 26 Issue: 7, pp.781-792, https://doi.org/10.1108/02634500810916717
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The impact
The impact of brand sponsorship of brand
of music festivals sponsorship
Jennifer Rowley
Department of Information and Communications, 781
Manchester Metropolitan Univeristy, Manchester, UK, and
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Catrin Williams
Bangor Business School, Bangor University, Bangor, UK

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report exploratory research into UK music festival
attendees awareness of, and attitude towards, brands that sponsor music festivals. Sponsorship is an
important revenue stream for music festivals, and, conversely brands perceive music festivals to be an
effective channel through which to reach young target audiences. Further, there have been concerns
expressed about the impact of alcohol sponsorship on drinking and health, but very little research has
been conducted in this area.
Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was used as the primary method of data
collection in order to investigate brand recall, brand awareness, brand use, brand attitude and any
concerns about the potentially negative impacts of sponsorship, and specifically alcohol sponsorship.
Findings – There is evidence to suggest that brand sponsorship of music festivals has an impact on
brand recall, awareness and attitude to the brand, but little evidence of impact on brand use. On the
other hand, there are variations between brands and festivals. The values associated with sponsoring
brands are largely positive. Some respondents indicated concerns about the consequences of
sponsorship, particularly in relation to alcohol sponsorship.
Originality/value – This exploratory study has started a long overdue investigation into music
festival attendees views on sponsorship. There is considerable scope for a larger scale study to
investigate the impact of sponsorship over a larger number of brands and festivals, and to learn more
about the sponsorship arrangements that have the most impact.
Keywords Arts, Brand awareness, Marketing strategy, Sponsorship, Festivals
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Music festivals are an important and developing arena for sponsorship by major
brands. Sponsorship is a important revenue stream for music festivals, and, from the
brand manager’s perspective, the sponsorship of music festivals provides
opportunities for targeted communication to the relatively homogenous festival
audience comprised primarily of young people (Oakes, 2003). There has, however, been
little research focussed on the impact of sponsorship of music festivals on brand
awareness and engagement.
Music festivals are popular events with young adults. Most festivals in the UK are
held during the summer months, typically between May and September. The main
festivals in the UK and Eire are: Glastonbury Festival, Download Festival, The Nokia Marketing Intelligence & Planning
Vol. 26 No. 7, 2008
Isle of Wight Festival, Oxegen, T in the Park, the V Festival, and the Reading and pp. 781-792
Leeds Weekend (officially known as the Carling Weekend). New music festivals are q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0263-4503
established every year, which means that the opportunities for sponsorship deals DOI 10.1108/02634500810916717
 MIP are expanding. Music festivals do not receive any public funding, so sponsorship deals
are an important supplement to ticket revenue (Getz, 2002).
26,7 This research seeks to explore sponsorship at music festivals with a view to
contributing to the literature on sponsorship in the arts, and more specifically offering
music event promoters a clearer picture of audience’s views on sponsorship. Since there
is very little research on sponsorship of music events, limited empirical research on
782 “entertainment marketing” (Hackley and Tiwsakul, 2006), and very little discussion of
brands in the arts marketing literature (O’Reilly, 2005) this paper makes an important
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exploratory contribution to each of these areas, and, in general to the understanding of

consumer engagement with brands in mediated spaces. The objectives of this
exploratory study are to investigate:
.
The impact of sponsorship on brand recall, brand awareness, brand attitude,
brand use and brand associations.
.
Attitudes towards any potentially negative effects of sponsorship, such as
increase in alcohol consumption, underage drinking, theft, violence, health risks,
or commercial pressure.

This paper first undertakes a brief review of the key literatures on events, arts and
sports marketing and sponsorship. Next, the methodology, using questionnaires,
supplemented by message board chats and interviews is outlined. The following
section outlines the findings of the research demonstrating the impact of sponsorship
in this context, and discussing festival attendee’s attitudes to potentially negative
effects of sponsorship. Finally, the conclusion summarises the key findings and makes
suggestions for both practice and further research.
Literature review
Marketing and finance are two key contributors to the success or otherwise of music
festivals (Getz, 2002, Hume et al., 2006). On the financing side, there is increased
pressure on all arts organisations to find money in order to fund themselves (Hume
et al., 2006). Sullivan Mort et al. (2003) discuss how funding is typically expected to be
raised purely from ticket revenues, without government funding. Accordingly, arts
organisations in general, and music festivals, in particular, have turned to sponsorship
as a means of raising additional revenue.
In general, sponsorship can be defined as:
[. . .] an investment in cash or kind in an activity, in return for access to the exploitable
commercial potential associated with that activity. The company promotes its interests and
brands by tying them to a specific and meaningfully related event or cause (Pelsmacker et al.,
2005, p. 293).
However, Meenaghan and Shipley (1999) offer a more specific definition of event
sponsorship; they define event sponsorship as:
[. . .] the right to associate with the profile and image of an event and to exploit this
association for commercial ends p. 328.
From the perspective of the pragmatic managerial rhetoric of brand management,
The main reasons for companies to use sponsorship in their marketing strategy
are identified as to: increase brand awareness; create brand image; re-position
the brand/product in the minds of consumers; increase profit over a short period;
 and, achieve larger market share (Pelsmacker et al., 2005). Other reasons why The impact
companies might use sponsorship are to: eliminate any negative feelings that of brand
consumers may hold about the brand/company; and, suggest a connection between the
event and the brand (Fill, 2005). Gwimmer (1997) suggests that two of the most sponsorship
important goals for sports and arts sponsorship are to increase brand awareness, and
to establish, strengthen, or change brand image. These are seen as important in the
development of brand knowledge, which drives customer brand equity (Keller, 1993). 783
Examples of such studies are those by (Cliffe and Motion, 2005), and (Motion et al.,
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2003). (Cliffe and Motion , 2005) investigated Vodafone New Zealand’s use of
sponsorship as a central marketing communication strategy for building brand
identity as a new entrant into a marketplace, whilst (Motion et al., 2003) explored the
use of co-branding between Adidas and the All Blacks (rugby union) in enhancing
brand value.
Event related sponsorship of sports and arts events is one of the main types of
sponsorship. Sports sponsorship, in particular, is a significant investment opportunity
with large-scale world-wide events, such as the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic
Games reaching global television audiences numbered in billions. Sponsorship of such
events has potential to generate significant marketing advantage for the sponsor and
indeed may be a more financially viable route than advertising through which to raise
awareness of the brand (Pelsmacker et al., 2005).
On the other hand, not all sponsorship of arts events demonstrates a direct impact
“on the bottom line”. “Cause-related” sponsorship is a form of public relations rather
than a substitute for advertising. In cause-related sponsorship the sponsor will give
money to “good causes” in exchange for an association with the good cause, and any
positive image held by the consumer about the event or charity (Bhattacharya et al.,
1995; Bennett and Sargeant, 2005).
Some authors view brand sponsorship of arts, music and leisure events as a means
of embedding brands in cultures and the processes associated with the experiential
dimensions of consumption (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982). (Hackley and Tiwsakul,
2006) propose the new field of “entertainment marketing” which aims to weave brands
into consumer’s experience of entertainment. They suggest that “brand exposure in
popular entertainment confers ‘coolness’ on the brand” and, simultaneously, ”enhances
the realism of the entertainment setting” (p. 65). When brands are subsumed within an
entertainment experience, the sponsoring brand and the brand that is the
entertainment mutually reinforce each other and provide a rich context for identity
formation (Elliott, 1997, Jenkins, 2004); the brand and associated marketing are
embedded in the lives of consumers (Moore, 2003). Under this paradigm, brand
sponsorship of the arts has more to do with embedding the brand in cultures and
identities, than with the more peripheral notions of recall, awareness, attitudes and use.
Corporate event sponsorship has becomes increasingly popular as a marketing
communications vehicle. Research has focussed on the management and evaluation of
such sponsorships, and, the effect of sponsorship on consumer behaviours. There is
evidence that one of the primary objectives of event sponsorship is to contribute to
brand equity (Cornwell and Maignan, 1998; Roy and Cornwell, 2003). For example,
Roy and Cornwell (2003) explored the “sponsor-event congruence” or the connection
made by the consumer between the event and the sponsoring brand, for brands with
high and low equity, in relation to sports events. They found that brands with high
 MIP brand equity had stronger sponsor event congruence than brands with low equity,
26,7 implying that brands with high equity make the best sponsors, although brands with
low equity still benefited from the sponsorship. However, empirical research on the link
between arts event sponsorship and the generation of brand recall, awareness,
attitudes and use is relatively scant. We have only identified three case study pieces.
Hafez and Ling (2006) analysed the history of Kool’s themed music promotions and the
784 role of music in the promotion of the brand. They suggest that music is an effective
marketing tool because it helps consumers make emotional connections with the brand,
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concerts are effective for targeting a young audience, and, music can bind and
integrated marketing campaign. Moore (2003) offers a case study on Diago’s strategy
for promoting a new brand through a series of live music events. Finally, Oakes (2003)
collected data on demographics and sponsorship recall at two classical music festivals.
He makes the case for more research into audience awareness, recall and attitude
towards sponsoring organisations and their brands.
A specific issue for sponsorship of arts and sports events is the extent to which
restrictions on advertising of alcohol brands has led to the use of sponsorship by these
brands as a key marketing communications tool. For example, alcohol brands sponsor
football teams and football cups (e.g. the Carling Cup) and their logos are very evident
in football stadiums (Eason, 2007). There is concern about the extent and effect of such
sponsorship on alcohol addition and abuse (Crompton, 1993, Maher et al., 2006).
Further, there is evidence that sponsorship alcohol advertising on television can create
strong positive associations between the companies’ products and cultural and
emotional elements, thus contributing to a climate that is not supportive of alcohol
education (Wyllie et al., 1989). On the other hand, McDaniel and Mason (1999) found
respondents to be much more relaxed about the use of sports sponsorship to promote
beer than they were about the use of sponsorship to promote tobacco. The debate in the
UK has culminated in 2006, in a recommendation from the Advisory Council on the
Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to the government to stop alcohol brands sponsoring music
festivals, because this sponsorship encouraged the young to drink alcohol (BBC News,
2006).
In summary, sponsorship represents an important revenue stream in the arts and
sports arenas, and, for sponsors potentially fulfils a number of brand-building
objectives. However, there is limited research on the effect of event sponsorship on
consumer response to a brand. A specific issue for music festival sponsorship is
attendee’s attitudes to any negative effects of sponsorship, in particular, but not
exclusively, in relation to alcohol sponsorship.

Methodology
This section describes the data collection for this research, with a focus on the
questionnaire design and sampling procedure.
Contextual information concerning the brands sponsoring specific festivals, and
some of the motivations for sponsorship was gathered from festival and sponsor
websites.
A questionnaire was chosen as the primary data collection instrument because it
was efficient for both the researcher and the respondent, and therefore facilitated the
collection of data from as large a sample as possible. The questionnaire had four
sections. The first section provided a demographic profile of respondents, such as age,
 gender, home and university location and music taste. The second section asked The impact
respondents to identify the last music festival that they had attended, as a basis for of brand
further analysis of their recall and attitudes towards sponsoring brands. The third
section of the questionnaire, based on the critical incident of the last festival attended, sponsorship
asked about brands recall, awareness, attitude, use, and values. The critical incident
approach was used to focus respondents’ thoughts around a specific experience
(Gremler, 2004). Although specific questions guided their response, the objective was to 785
gain an understanding of the experience from their perspective, taking into account
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cognitive, affective and behavioural elements (Chell, 1998). Respondents were asked
directly about their views on whether, for example, their attitudes or brand use were
impacted by festival sponsorship. More complex multi-item instruments could have
been used to measure changes, but the direct approach was preferred in this study to
capture respondent’s perceptions and to keep the questionnaire short and direct. The
final group of questions explored attitudes to alcohol sponsorship and any potentially
negative effects of sponsorship.
The sample group for the questionnaire consisted of people who had attended music
festivals. The most effective and convenient means of identifying this group was to
develop a sample through “snowballing”. The questionnaire was initially distributed
to acquaintances who were known to have attended festivals; they were then asked to
distribute to their acquaintances, and so on. To enhance the response rate an electronic
version of the questionnaire was distributed to students in selected departments in a
university in the UK, and the questionnaire was also posted on some music-related
message boards. The questionnaire was distributed in October and November 2006,
just after the close of the music festival season for 2006.
Additional qualitative information was also collected and analysed in order to gain
a greater understanding of respondents’ opinions on sponsorship, and specifically to
aid in the interpretation of the questionnaire results. This data was collected through
message board dialogues and some follow-up interviews with questionnaire
respondents.

Findings
This section reports on the key findings from the research. Completed questionnaires
were received from 138 respondents. 60 per cent of the respondents were 16-21 years
of age, 22 per cent were aged 22-25, and 12 per cent aged 26-35. As to gender mix,
59 per cent of respondents were female and 41 per cent male. The majority of the
respondents (86 per cent) were students, and of these 85 per cent were students at the
university in which questionnaires were circulated (University of Bangor). Whilst this
sampling might appear to impose geographical constraints on the findings of the
research, this is not the case, since student’s home location is more likely than their
university location to affect festival attendance in the summer vacation. Home
locations were scattered with 34 per cent in Wales, 25 per cent in North West England,
12 per cent in the Midlands, 9 per cent in South West England, and 9 per cent in South
East England. Music tastes were eclectic, with 15 per cent preferring rock, 13 per cent
indie, 12 per cent alternative, 9 per cent punk and 8 per cent pop.
In response to a number of the questions on brands and sponsorship, respondents
were asked to comment with respect to the most recent festival that they had attended.
This critical incident approach was adopted in order to encourage respondents to focus
 MIP on one event that was likely to be the clearest in their memory. On the other hand, this
26,7 approach did privilege the larger festivals that took place towards the end of the
season, and means that to some extent, these festivals and their sponsoring brands
dominate the results of the research. Table I shows the festivals that the respondents
had attended most recently.
Respondents were asked to name the sponsor of the festival that they last attended
786 in order to check brand recall. Overall, 73 per cent of respondents correctly recalled the
sponsoring brand, 11 per cent admitted that they did not know, and 16 per cent made
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an incorrect recall. There were however, interesting difference between sponsors.

Recall of Carling for the Reading and Leeds Festival was 93 per cent, whereas recall for
Download on Snickers and Kerang! was 69 per cent, recall of Virgin for The V Festival
was 64 per cent, and recall of Heineken for Oxegen it was 56 per cent. Although
numbers of respondents are low, and results therefore inconclusive, it is interesting to
observe that recall of sponsoring brands was particularly low for T in the Park, and
Glastonbury.
Respondents were asked whether sponsorship had affected their brand awareness
(Table II). The average response lies between “some” and “very little”, which suggests
that overall that respondents acknowledge some small impact on brand awareness.
This may well be judged as a success by sponsors, since brand awareness is often built
through a series of small incremental steps over time. Again, there are differences
between festivals. For example, clustering the “a lot” and “a moderate amount” and
“some” categories, as in Table III shows Reading and Leeds at 45 per cent, Download at
31 per cent, and The V Festival at 64 per cent. Overall, sponsorship does have some
small impact on perceptions of brand awareness, but the impact differs between
festivals. The findings for the category “Other” are worthy of specific comment.

Music festival Percentage of sample attending

Reading and Leeds 41

The V Festival 12
Download 12
Oxegen 7
Glastonbury 4
T in the Park 3
The Isle of Wight Festival 1
Table I.
Othera 20
Music festivals attended
most recently Notes: aIncludes various other smaller music festivals located across the UK

A lot A moderate Some Very little Not at all Weighted

(five) amount (four) (three) (two) (one) mean

Table II. Increased brand

Changes in brand awareness 4 15 25 22 34 2.3
awareness and attitudes Changed attitude to
to brand (per cent) brand 11 21 11 21 36 2.5
 This category includes a variety of smaller festivals, typically sponsored by less well The impact
known brands; such brands do appear to be benefiting from sponsorship in terms of of brand
increased brand awareness.
Tables II and III also summarise responses on whether sponsorship had affected sponsorship
respondent’s attitude to the brand. The impact here is slightly stronger, than for the
change in brand awareness, but it must be acknowledged that some of these changes in
attitude may be negative changes. Examining the brand attitude responses in relation 787
to specific festivals again shows variability, and for the major festivals a lower level of
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impact on brand attitude than on brand awareness.

In order to investigate whether use of brand products was affected by sponsorship,
respondents were asked how often they used a product before the festival and how
often they used it after the festival. Results are summarised in Table IV. The only
discernable difference between before and after is a marginally negative effect, shown
by the figures in the “never” column. On the other hand, one Internet discussion
respondent recognised that:
[. . .] the more it’s showed in your face, the more you associate it with such events and in my
case makes me more likely to buy it.
Next, attitudes to potentially negative effects of sponsorship were analysed. In
response to the question as to whether alcohol sponsorship should be banned, 73 per
cent believed that alcoholic sponsorship should not be banned, and 16 per cent thought
that it should be banned, whilst 11 per cent were undecided. Respondents were also
asked to indicate the level of their concerns about the potentially negative effects of
alcohol sponsorship; responses are summarised in Table V.
Overall, respondents appeared to be relatively unconcerned about the potentially
negative effects of alcohol sponsorship. Very few indicated any concerns about
increased alcohol consumption, although there is more concern about the potential
impact on underage drinking. For example, one Internet discussant commented:
[. . .] it’s very irresponsible because they are attended by many under 18’s and I believe
Carling is targeting these underage drinkers.
Other areas in which there is some level of concern are the commercial pressures
implied in sponsorship, and the potential for increased violence at festivals.
Table III.
Reading and Leeds Download The V Festival Oxegen Other Changes in brand
awareness and attitudes
Increased brand awareness 45 31 64 45 43 to brand, by festival
Changed attitude to brand 29 6 42 22 22 (per cent)

Daily Regularly Occasionally Rarely Never Weighted

(five) (four) (three) (two) (one) mean

Use prior to
festival 4 10 28 29 29 2.3 Table IV.
Use after festival 4 9 28 26 33 2.3 Brand use (per cent)
 MIP Respondents were also invited to comment on their attitude to the potentially negative
26,7 effects of sponsorship, in general. 52 per cent expressed no concerns, whereas 35 per
cent were worried, and 13 per cent did not know. This suggests a higher level of
concern about sponsorship in general, than was evident specifically in relation to
alcohol sponsorship. Some of these concerns may be linked to the appropriateness of
sponsoring brands from the respondent’s perspective. Appropriateness of brands was
788 probed by two open questions that asked which brands respondents would like to see
associated with a festival, and the values that respondents associated with brands,
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respectively. The predominant response for brands that respondents would like to see
associated with festivals focussed on alcohol brands, charity brands and music related
brands (such as music magazines, music video channels, and guitar brands). Other
suggestions included brands associated with computer games and consoles, phone
providers and water (e.g. Evian and Vittel). The fact that alcohol brands featured
heavily in this response would suggest that people view alcohol as an integral part of
the festival experience.
Table VI shows some of the values that respondents associated with specific
sponsoring brands. Many are positive and suggest some transference of the enjoyment
associated with the music festival to the sponsoring brand. This suggests that
sponsors have been successful in weaving brands into the consumers’ experience of the
entertainment (Hackley and Tiwsakul, 2006). However, some brands also attract
negative descriptions as well as more upbeat descriptors. Oxfam and Tennents are
notable for their inability to generate a positive image. Carling, sponsor for the Reading
and Leeds Weekend, was described mainly in terms of positive values, but these were,

A lot Moderately Some A little Not at all Weighted

(five) (four) (three) (two) (one) mean

Increased alcohol consumption 5 7 9 25 54 1.8

Underage drinking 10 12 21 23 34 2.4
Theft 5 10 10 22 53 1.9
Table V. Violence 7 12 14 28 39 2.2
Concerns about Health risks 4 8 16 29 43 2.0
sponsorship (per cent) Commercial pressure 9 14 20 14 43 2.3

Brand Values Festival

Kerrang! Humorous, loud, specialised, fun, young, interesting, Download

boring, bland and diluted
Snickers Nice, yummy and tasty Download
Oxfam Old, outdated and in need of funding Glastonbury
Heineken Young, fun, smiles, laughter, tasty, silly, Oxegen
irresponsible and wile
Carling Tasty, refreshing, fun, drunk, good times and young Reading and Leeds Weekend
Table VI. Tennents Old, poor and unexciting T in the Park
Brand values associated Nokia Stylish and reliable Isle of Wight Festival
with sponsoring brands Virgin Mobile Young, fun and modern The V Festival
 to some extent, counterbalanced by respondent’s view that Carling was “taking over” The impact
the music scene. Other respondents commented on the lager’s poor taste and low of brand
quality. Further Discussion with respondents through interviews and Internet forums
was particularly lively around the issues of Carling and its policy that Carling was the sponsorship
only lager that could be purchased within the arena:
[. . .] we pay enough to go to the festival we should be able to drink whatever we want.
I’ve never felt so powerless in my decisions to consume what I wanted. 789
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[. . .] the annoying thing is only being allowed to buy Carling.

[. . .] they have complete control of the festival [. . .] the advert for carling on the main stage
is bigger than the screens that show the bands.
These comments indicate resistance to “over-selling” of sponsored brands within
arenas and the tensions around control and consumer choice.
On the other hand, there is also recognition that sponsorship from Carling and other
sponsors is important in maintaining the viability of festivals. Internet forum
discussants commented:
[. . .] it helps keep the ticket prices kinda low and doesn’t have much of a direct effect on the
consumer.
[. . .] it keeps the prices down a bit.
I’m not so much thinking about the big three, but more the smaller festivals like IoW,
Summer Sundae, Bestival, Wicker Man, Hi-Fi. If they have to increase/introduce sponsorship
in order to survive it’s fine by me.
Arguably, the following comment sums up the compromise accepted by many festival
attendees:
I’d much rather be sat in a festival drinking a Carling that was forced on me than at home
drinking what I want

Conclusions
There is a need for a better understanding of the mutual benefits of arts events
sponsorship to sponsor and recipients and an improved understanding of the extent
and nature of image transfer between the festival brand and the sponsor brand. This
study provides evidence to suggest that brand sponsorship of music festivals has an
impact on brand recall, awareness and attitude to the brand, but little evidence of
impact on brand use.
Brand recall results are particularly positive with 73 per cent being able to recall the
sponsoring brand unprompted. The brands with the highest level of recall were Carling
and Nokia, possibly because the full names of these brands were incorporated into the
official titles of the festivals – the Carling Weekend, and the Nokia Isle of Wight
Festival. Virgin, sponsor of the V Festival also achieved a fairly high level of brand
recall, and Heineken’s recall was only marginally lower despite the brand not being
embedded in the names of the festival. Co-branding, as in using the brand name in the
festival name may have a positive impact, but it is difficult to disentangle this from the
influence of high brand equity (Roy and Cornwell, 2003). As (Oakes, 2003) discusses
there are complexities associated with collecting data on brand recall where festivals
have multiple sponsors.
 MIP Another positive message that emerges from this research is that the values that
26,7 attendees associate with the sponsoring brands are in the main positive. The word
“fun” is used for Kerang!, Heineken, Carling, and Virgin Mobile. Nokia, on the other
hand, is differentiated as being “stylish” and “reliable”. This suggests a relatively
strong level of “sponsor-event congruence” (Roy and Cornwell, 2003) and that sponsors
have been successful in weaving brands into consumer’s experience of entertainment
790 nine Hackley and Tiwsakul, 2006) which may be a good basis for embedding brands in
life experience, cultures and identities (Moore, 2003).
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In relation to brand awareness and attitude to the brand, overall the impact lies
between ”some” and “very little”, suggesting small incremental change across the
sample, but greater impact for some members of the sample. Overall, there is little
evidence of any impact on brand use.
Taking these results together they suggest that sponsorship is associated with a
high level of brand recall, but respondents do not believe that sponsorship affects their
engagement with the brand in terms of awareness, attitude and use to any significant
extent. On the other hand, respondent’s perceptions of the outcomes of sponsorship are
different for different brands. It is possible that a number of aspects of the sponsorship
process, such as whether the sponsoring brand is embedded in the festival name, the
brand equity of the sponsoring brand, exposure to the brand through sale of brand
products at the festival, and the corporate relationship between the festival and the
sponsoring brand, may effect the impact of sponsorship on brand awareness, attitude
and use.
Respondents expressed some concerns about the consequences of sponsorship,
particularly in relation to the potential of alcohol sponsorship to increase under-age
drinking, and also in relation to commercial pressures. Comments on commercial
pressures were primarily directed against Carling and the extent to which Carling
controls alcohol choice at the festival. There is also a modest level of concern about
increase in violence, health risks and theft. Problems with such issues have the
potential to damage both the festival and sponsoring brands. However, the level of
concern appears to be quite modest if compared with the concerns raised by earlier
researchers and policy-makers, which is consistent with the findings of McDaniel and
Mason (1999). Overall, respondents were not in favour of a ban on alcohol sponsorship,
and there was a general recognition that sponsorship was necessary to ensure viability
of festivals.
This has been an exploratory study which has a number of limitations, in terms, for
instance, of sample size and dependence for the measurement on changes in brand
awareness, attitude and use on single questions on respondent’s perceptions. The
study has nevertheless started a long overdue investigation into music festival
attendee’s views on sponsorship. In addition, it has explored the contentious issue of
the impact of sponsorship on festival attendees, and, specifically, sought to understand
attendee’s attitudes to alcohol sponsorship of music festivals. There is scope for
considerable further theoretical and practitioner research in both of these areas,
including for example:
(1) A larger study, probably longitudinally spread over at least one festival season,
to support the collection of data from a wide range of festivals, with larger
samples for each festival.
 (2) A study that specifically focuses on brand recall for festivals with multiple The impact
sponsors. of brand
(3) The development of more sophisticated instruments to measure brand sponsorship
awareness, attitude and use.
(4) Investigation to identify those sponsoring brands that are consistently
generating the most impact through sponsorship, to permit a more detailed
assessment of the aspects of the sponsorship process at music festivals that 791
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have the most impact on brand recall, awareness and use, and are most likely to
drive forward more positive attitudes and value associations.

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Corresponding author
Jennifer Rowley can be contacted at: j.rowley@mmu.ac.uk

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