TELEPRINTER: BULMERS IS back on the bill as sponsor of Dublin's Forbidden Fruit Festival, which returns for its sophomore year on the June bank holiday weekend.
Organisers have expanded the festival billed as “an urban fusion of music, art and fashion” to include comedy, a third day and a third bar.
The CC-owned cider brand has taken the opportunity to “keep adding layers” to its sponsorship of the festival, says Belinda Kelly, trade marketing and events manager for Bulmers.
A new comedy stage featuring performances by Ardal O’Hanlon, Late Night Gimp Fight, Republic of Telly’s Bernard O’Shea and Dead Cat Bounce will be branded with CC’s infant Bulmers Pear product.
As with last year, its Original, Light and Berry brands will also be in evidence around the festival’s site in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
Bulmers already sponsors Galway’s Bulmers Comedy Festival, which is in its third year.
“We wanted to get involved in a music sponsorship in order to connect with 20-25- year-olds,” says Kelly. The Forbidden Fruit concept had the obvious attraction of encouraging ticket-holders to make a day of it at a single site, yet return home to their own beds.
Last year’s two-day event was deemed a success despite a technical problem with the multiserve system at the main bar on the Saturday, which meant thirsty festival-goers were obliged to queue for as long as an hour for alcohol.
Festival organiser POD Entertainment was forced to call in an expert to fix the system, while on the Sunday a second bar was opened. There will be three bars on the site this year, says Kelly, ensuring there will be no repeat of the 2011 hiccup.
The sponsorship involves a “substantial” investment by Bulmers and will coincide with an outdoor and radio advertising campaign, she adds.
Revenues from music festivals have been under pressure in recent years in tandem with high rates of unemployment and a general squeeze on younger consumers’ incomes. This has influenced pricing policy at festivals such as Forbidden Fruit, where prices start at €49.50 for one-day tickets.
“We wanted to make sure there was flexibility in the ticket prices and that people could buy one, two or three-day tickets. That’s very important, especially when you’re trying to capture the attention of 20-25-year-olds.”
The non-camping aspect of the festival combined with the vintage of headline acts such as New Order, Mazzy Star and Leftfield arguably makes Forbidden Fruit – in common with many Irish festivals – more enticing to a slightly older demographic, however.
Kelly says the majority of last year’s attendees were aged 20-30, with enough festival-goers at the younger end of the range to make the sponsorship appealing to Bulmers. The 20-25-year-old cohort is increasingly elusive to recruit, she notes.
“There’s a lot of research that shows that this age group aren’t even spending time in the pub.”
Meanwhile, the future for drinks company sponsorships of festivals and sports events was recently thrown into doubt by the Report of the National Substance Misuse Strategy Steering Group, which said such sponsorships should be phased out by 2016.
However, several Government Ministers have expressed concerns about the recommendation.
