Bacardi NH7 Weekender is back in a bigger avatar this year. It will cover three cities - Delhi, Pune and Bengaluru, and will have over 200 hundred artistes performing. The festival, co-created by Bacardi and Only Much Louder, kicks off in Delhi on 13 October, post which it will head to Pune (2-4 November) and finally to Bengaluru (15 -16 December).
Megadeath, Indus Creed, Pentagram , Parikrama, Bhayanak Maut, Anoushka Shankar, The Raghu Dixit Project, Shaa’ir + Func , Karnivool , Kailasa and so on are going to be performing at the festival.
Commenting on the association with NH7, now in its third year, Manish Seth, director- marketing and sales, Bacardi India, said, “This festival is built on the core values of Bacardi India, which is all about coming together, enjoyment, passion, zest for life and liberation. The festival is all about being relevant to today’s youth with our brands. It’s about delivering a consumer and drink experience that stays etched in memory, not to be forgotten.”
On the ROI, Seth added, “The Bacardi NH7 Weekender festival is not a cash cow for the brand and hence a traditional ROI is not applicable to it. The company treats the festival as an opportunity to deliver a brand experience and to showcase all its focus products. The ROI is in the recall value of the brand and the festival. Starting off with 6,000 consumers in year one in Pune, to 25000 consumers the next year in the same city, is the ROI that the brand was looking for.”
On how the festival is being promoted this year, Vijay Nair, chief executive officer, Only Much Louder, said, “We don't believe in a lot of ATL - however, our friends at UTV Bindass have been heavily promoting the festival and have been great partners to work with. A lot of our promotions are digital - we have an active community on Facebook who love our festival and they spread the word more than anybody else. On ground, we organise a bunch of pre-parties - 60 this year in 10 cities - which feature stage-themed artists and music.”
There are also some quirky means to spread the word that the company employs. “The most fun we have is through some of fun stuff we do - we have customised leave letters that people can drop at their boss' desk, online personality tests that tell you which stage you are likely to spend your time at, fortune cookies and badges with custom NH7 Weekender messaging. And a bunch of enthusiastic volunteers who spread the word. Lastly, nothing works like word-of-mouth and fans who have attended our festivals previously bring their friends along every year. And of course, we have our own set of digital shorts that promote the festival - funny, interesting, inspiring stuff and not ads,” said Nair.
Watch the digital promos
View the posters
A very interesting fact about this year’s festival is that it is going to be a pet friendly one. So music-lovers do not need to leave their pooches behind, and can enjoy the music in the company of their pets.
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