Existing literature on festival sponsorship

In a comprehensive review of festival studies literature, Getz (Reference Getz2010) found that research into the sponsorship of festivals constituted a distinct (albeit small) body of work within the field, but that relevant findings could also be found within work concerning the financing and marketing of festivals, as well as in literature about sports events (Getz Reference Getz2010, p. 16).

John Crompton has been a key contributor to event sponsorship research; a common theme in his work is the exploration of the rationale and strategy applied by companies considering sponsorship opportunities. Drawing on the work of Meenaghan (Reference Meenaghan1983), Armstrong (Reference Armstrong1988) and Copeland (Reference Copeland1991), he observes that three to five years is the optimum time period needed for a sponsor to capitalise fully on a relationship with an event (Crompton Reference Crompton1993, p. 99). Crompton (Reference Crompton1995, p. 97), meanwhile, argues that the sponsorship of major events can help companies build ‘a more intimate and emotionally involved relationship with their target audiences’ than that offered by other promotional activities. Mount and Niro (Reference Mount and Niro1995) examine the more altruistic reasons for sponsorship of events in a small town, where the perception of an event as being ‘good for the community’ might be sufficient reason for sponsorship. Conversely, working from the premise that event sponsorship was increasingly driven by commercial outputs rather than altruism, Coughlan and Mules (Reference Coughlan and Mules2002) applied a marketing framework in order to address the needs of sponsors, as opposed to the needs of event organisers. Alexandris et al. (Reference Alexandris, Douka, Bakaloumi and Tsasousi2008) note that models of sponsorship evaluation had only begun to emerge in the decade prior to their work; Dees et al.'s (Reference Dees, Bennett and Tsuh2007) attempt to assess the attitudes and behaviour of attendees at a sporting event represents an example of such work. In the light of this, it is necessary to make clear that this article is based entirely on research conducted from GIJF's company paperwork, and that this is acknowledged as a limitation.

A persistent difficulty in relating this research to other studies of music festivals has been a strong bias in the literature, first towards rock and pop music, and then towards large, outdoor events. An urban, venue-based, concert-format festival like Glasgow's does not lend itself to direct comparisons with such festivals when looked at through the lens of e.g. music scenes or audiences (although literature relating to theatre and dance events can provide a richer seam).

In one of the few studies of the sponsorship of a music festival beyond pop and rock, Oakes (Reference Oakes2003) makes the critical observation that different musical genres have different audiences and that these audiences, in turn, have different attitudes towards sponsorship. Jazz and classical music festivals, whose audiences tend to be older and more middle class than those for pop and rock (Oakes Reference Oakes2003, p. 169), are faced with having to balance the audience growth often demanded from their sponsors (as well as their public sector funders) with ‘accompanying implications regarding fears of the need to dilute the integrity of the core product’ (Oakes Reference Oakes2003, p. 176). This has certainly proved to be the case for Glasgow Jazz Festival, the programming of which has never been constrained to one musical ‘product’ (and which might now be described as ‘musics of African-American origin’). Cummings (Reference Cummings2008) offers an interesting study on the attitudes of festival-goers to sponsors, but it is limited to indie music and its findings cannot readily be extrapolated to Glasgow Jazz Festival. Rowley and Williams (Reference Rowley and Williams2008), similarly, examine the attitudes of attendees towards festival sponsors, finding that while brand awareness appears to be raised, there is ‘little evidence of impact on brand use’ (Rowley and Williams Reference Rowley and Williams2008, p. 789); they also specifically flag up emergent concerns about the ‘negative effects of sponsorship, in particular, but not exclusively, in relation to alcohol sponsorship’ (Rowley and Williams Reference Rowley and Williams2008, p. 784). However, statements such as ‘music festivals do not receive any public funding’ suggest that their scope does not extend far beyond rock and pop (Rowley and Williams Reference Rowley and Williams2008, p. 782).

As the venue-based concert format is common for urban jazz festivals in the UK, there is a clear need and opportunity for further research into this type of event. This is beginning to be addressed by those working in the field of jazz studies. The expertise of popular music scholars with an interest in the economics of live music would provide a valuable perspective on these events and, in particular, on the ways in which they align with, and differ from, pop and rock festivals.

1986–1994

With Glasgow International Jazz Festival Ltd. established as both a company and a charity, its Board members immediately began contacting potential sponsors. It quickly became apparent that this was going to involve a degree of compromise. Interviewed in Scottish Field, Ken Mathieson (the drummer and jazz enthusiast who programmed the event in its first year) noted that

As late as March 1987 – around three months before the event was due to take place, and with timescales for promotion becoming almost untenably tight – potential sponsors, including Guinness, had yet to confirm whether they would be supporting the new Festival (Anon. 1987). By April, the picture was altogether more promising. Concerts by the ‘commercially-appealing’ Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan were sponsored by the Guinness (£10,000) and Harp (£17,500) brands, respectively, while Heineken-Whitbreads sponsored a Late Night Jazz Club to the tune of £5,000. Moreover, these deals attracted matched sponsorship from ABSAFootnote ³ to the maximum of £25,000 (Lally, Reference Lally1987).

Mathieson's inference that the Festival would be able to programme more bravely in subsequent years proved to be justified. Writing in The Scotsman, Anthony Troon noted that the 1988 event

Artists associated with free improvisation, such as Lol Coxhill and Maggie Nicols, were among those lending the Festival such credibility in its sophomore year; however, such activity was typically bankrolled by economic ‘safe bets’ elsewhere in the programme, rather than attracting sponsorship.

The year 1989 proved to be more challenging. An overall increase of 60 per cent in new sponsorship meant that income remained stable (Lally Reference Lally1989), but the loss of both Guinness and Scottish Brewers as sponsors forced GIJF to re-examine its strategy. Iwan Williams perceived a need for ‘rejuvenation’ of the relationship with Guinness (Williams Reference Williams1989). Bill Sweeney was more resigned to the turnover:

Such shifting commitment from sponsors is indicative not only of the importance of personal contacts to this kind of partnership, but also the personal taste and commercial instinct of those contacts with regard to arts and culture.

Glasgow's year as European Capital of Culture was to prove a source of tension within the city. Despite adopting a broad interpretation of ‘culture’ in an attempt to make the initiative as inclusive as possible, organisers at Glasgow District Council were criticised by a counter-movement dubbed ‘Workers’ City’ for downplaying the ongoing depravation and social difficulties in Glasgow – difficulties exacerbated, in some cases, by alcohol. The ‘year of culture’ was to prove especially problematic for the city's existing arts organisations, who found themselves faced with increased competition for funding and audiences. Glasgow District Council's Festivals Unit, established soon after the bid had been won in order to coordinate the 1990 activities, came under fire from organisations who asserted ‘… that sponsors are being drawn to a small number of flagship events while the rest of the city's arts organisations go begging’ (Johnstone Reference Johnstone1990). These organisations – including Mayfest and the Jazz Festival, both of which were reported to be struggling to meet their sponsorship targets for 1990 – were not reassured by an admission from the Unit's sponsorship consultant, Wendy Stephenson, that the Capital of Culture title didn't seem all that attractive to sponsors (Johnstone Reference Johnstone1990).

One sponsor which withdrew its support for both festivals in 1990 was Scottish Brewers which, as noted by Keith Bruce in the Herald, represented ‘in both cases … the loss of a long-term sponsor – the kind that directors can almost feel confident of building into their projected income’ (Bruce Reference Bruce1990a). In a city where alcohol abuse remained a pervasive side-effect of long-term urban decline, concerns around the ethical implications of accepting funds from drinks firms were beginning to gain traction; however, it was broadly accepted that for most arts organisations being able to choose sponsors based on principles ‘would be a luxury’ (Bruce Reference Bruce1990a). Moreover, Bruce noted, arts organisations were increasingly having to demonstrate to their public sector funders that they were able to raise funds from other sources (Bruce Reference Bruce1990a).

Six weeks later, the situation had improved somewhat, with Iwan Williams reporting record levels of commercial sponsorship for the Jazz Festival and declaring it ‘the biggest jazz festival in Britain’ (Bruce Reference Bruce1990b). One of the Festival's new sponsors in 1990 was the Canadian Club whisky brand, which lent its branding to a new venue – the Renfrew Ferry – as part of its ‘1990 support package in Scotland’ (Anon. 1990a). The Festival acknowledged, however, that ‘there was a danger that there were too many arts events for available private sector funds’ (Bruce Reference Bruce1990b).

In fact, the Jazz Festival was hailed as one of 1990's successes, having ‘created a buzz that other 1990 events must envy’ (Anon. 1990b), with an estimated 40 per cent increase on 1989's attendances and a corresponding rise of 25 per cent in box-office returns (Anon. 1990c). A deficit of £15,000 carried over from 1989 had been cleared, in part due to the increase in box-office income, but mainly due to an increase of £27,000 in cash sponsorship (Anon. 1990c). Having broken its box office and sponsorship records, the Festival was singled out for public praise by Neil Wallace, Glasgow District Council's Deputy Director of the 1990 programme (Robertson Reference Robertson1990).

In October 1990 a reception was held at Glasgow City Chambers celebrating the level of business sponsorship directed to the arts during the year. This was estimated at £800,000, although matched funding from the Association for Business Sponsorship of the Arts (ABSA) – a further source of public funding – took the total to over £1 m. Once again, the Festivals Unit found itself the focus of controversy, since it was perceived by some arts organisations as taking credit for raising sponsorship which arts organisations had in fact found themselves, at a time when competition for corporate cash was fierce (Anon. 1990d).

In 1991, riding high on the commercial success of the 1990 Festival, the board of GIJF started a wholly owned subsidiary company named GIJF Enterprises Ltd. as a way of hiving off business not directly related to producing and promoting the main Festival. One such activity was a proposed concert series throughout 1991–2. Matthew Gloag and Son (the company behind the Famous Grouse whisky brand), already committed to supporting the 1991 Festival to the tune of £20,000 (Barry Reference Barry1991), agreed additionally to support the new concert series, branded as the Famous Grouse Jazz Series. Three concerts were programmed: Carol Kidd with the Humphrey Lyttelton Band (Theatre Royal, 27 December 1991); Chick Corea Elektrik Band (Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 24 March 1992); and Sonny Rollins (Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 21 April 1992) (Anon. 1991).Footnote ⁴ Such activity demonstrates not only that GIJF were able to attract sponsorship for events outside the main Festival period, but also that those sponsors – as well as GIJF themselves – were confident of being able to attract an audience for such events. For an organisation which had been established, in part, in the hope of developing a year-round audience for jazz in Glasgow, this must have seemed like an enormous step forward; however, the initiative was not continued in the following years.

Post-1990, a dip in overall sponsorship levels was perhaps inevitable, but not catastrophic. GIJF's 1992 sponsorship haul of £69,000 demonstrated that ‘… even if jazz remains a minority interest, businesses are still conscious of its commercial image value’ (Bruce Reference Bruce1992). It is important to note, however, that this ‘commercial image value’ of jazz arguably applies only to certain forms of the music. And while household names such as Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan proved attractive to sponsors and audiences, music of a more experimental nature could be included in the Festival programme only due to a kind of internal subsidy system.

The Edinburgh-based McEwan's beer brand was, at this time, reasonably well linked to jazz. As well as sponsoring their home city's veteran jazz and blues festival, they had lent support to Glasgow's event by sponsoring the ‘McEwan's Jazz Trail’, essentially providing venues for the Festival fringe by way of brewery-owned pub space (similarly, Scotland's other major brewers, Tennent Caledonian Breweries, supported the ‘Tennent's Jazz Circuit’). However, suitable spaces were also required for the Festival's core activity. Prior to 1990, headline acts had appeared in venues such as the Citizens’ Theatre and the Theatre Royal. The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, opened in 1986, had been used with mixed results, but generally posed too great a financial risk to the Festival due to its large capacity. Booking the new Glasgow Royal Concert Hall – 1990's Council-funded architectural landmark – involved what the Festival's press officer Marek Kolodziej described as ‘exceedingly high charges for the Hall, and huge ticket commissions’ (Leadbetter Reference Leadbetter1991).

A potential solution presented itself in 1992 when the Festival's director, Jim Smith, and administrator, Jill Rodger, happened across a disused indoor market space close to their new offices in the Merchant City (an area of Glasgow which had been earmarked as a future ‘cultural quarter’ almost a decade previously). They immediately recognised that, acoustically and aesthetically, it would make an ideal venue, and that its location close to local bars and restaurants would also make it a perfect hub for the Festival's activity. As the informal nature of the space was part of its charm (and offered greater flexibility in terms of production), little work needed to be done in order to transform it into the Festival's flagship venue – but the work which was needed was funded, in part, by McEwan's, and the venue named the ‘McEwans 80/- Old Fruitmarket’ in order to reflect this. As described in the Inverness Courier:

For McEwan's, the value of sponsorship went beyond simply gaining access to the Festival audience (in terms of both its branding and its products): the novelty of the venue, as well as the affection it generated among local audiences and the press, proved sufficiently attractive that the brewery sponsored the venue in this way for four years.

The early years of the Festival saw two important relaxations in local legislation governing licensed premises. GIJF's earliest company paperwork suggests that the first of these relaxations – which allowed pub landlords to charge entry for live music on their premises – was viewed by the new company as an opportunity. In fact, GIJF had been part of the lobby who influenced the decision to relax the law, ensuring that the membership of the Board of Directors included members of Glasgow District Council's licensing board (Friel Reference Friel2015). The second important relaxation, in 1990, allowed pubs to apply for late licenses provided they were hosting cultural activities, including live music (Gulliver Reference Gulliver2012). Live jazz in pubs was not met with universal approval, as illustrated by an account worth reproducing here in its entirety:

Licensing hours could also be extended ‘backwards’, allowing pubs to open earlier in the day. Along with the refurbishment and repurposing of city centre buildings, this produced an opportunity for new, modern bars which served food and coffee as well as alcohol. Licensing differences between England and Scotland meant that these new bars north of the border were able to serve draught beer as well as wines and spirits, making them perhaps more inclusive than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK. A 1988 piece on Glasgow in London Restaurant Business, describing the above developments, suggested that the changes meant that Glasgow's ‘large female working population’ were finally being catered for (Guthrie 1988, pp. 16–17), although it is arguable that these new establishments were creating their own market as much as they were catering to it.

1995–1998

In 1994, an estimated 35,000 people attended the first Celtic Connections festival, an event which proved a useful way of filling all the various performance spaces in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall during an otherwise quiet fortnight in January. Later that same year, a further 35,000 people descended on Strathclyde Country Park, south-east of Glasgow, for another festival. Run by DF Concerts, T in the Park was a large-scale, outdoor summer event featuring acts such as Blur, Pulp, Rage Against the Machine and Björk. While not a financial success in its first year, T in the Park was immediately popular with the public and the press. The festival went on to become an annual event, taking place at Strathclyde Country Park in 1995 and 1996 before moving to the Balado Airfield in 1997. T in the Park's main sponsor was Tennents Lager, the flagship brand of Tennent Caledonian Breweries, who had sponsored GIJF from its inception until 1992. Further developments followed: local music promoter Billy Kelly established a festival of American music, entitled Big Big Country, in 1995, and Big Big World, a festival of world music, in 1996. This increasingly diverse offering of live music events in the city and its surrounding area gave audiences – and, of course, sponsors – more options in terms of where to put their money.

Also in 1996, Glasgow City Council instigated a ban on the consumption of alcohol in the city's streets with the exception of certain licensed areas. The change in legislation was a response to growing concerns about crime and antisocial behaviour in the city; pilot bans had been in operation in other areas of Scotland since 1989. Quoted in the Independent, the Chair of Glasgow City Council's licensing board, James Coleman, made it clear that the ban would not discriminate between ‘somebody in the West End drinking Beaujolais and somebody in the East End drinking Buckfast … If you want to drink your cheeky wee Beaujolais you will have to go to one of the areas we are happy to license in the city centre’ (Bennetto Reference Bennetto1996). As well as creating an additional administrative burden for outdoor festival activities, the ban illustrates the shifting attitude towards alcohol in Glasgow's public spaces.

By 1995, GIJF was carrying an operating deficit of £24,000. Developing commercial sponsorship was part of the company's strategy for addressing this shortfall and, to that end, it appointed Derek Gorman as Festival Director in 1994. With a background in advertising sales for commercial radio, it had been hoped that Gorman would bring with him contacts as well as expertise. Journalist Kenny Mathieson interviewed Gorman for the Scotsman:

The italicized sentences emphasise, perhaps better than any others in the GIJF archives, the relationship between the Festival and its sponsors: companies offering financial support to live music events expect access to the audience in the first instance. Gorman's use of the word ‘entitled’, and his framing of the Festival's musical offering as being of secondary importance to honouring this entitlement, is perhaps unfortunate – but this language betrays the true power dynamic inherent in such a relationship.

Mayfest, too, was running into difficulties. The 1997 event proved unattractive to both critics and audiences, and poor attendances left the organisation struggling financially. Mayfest was supported by Glasgow City Council to the tune of £500,000 a year, but was reported to owe around £130,000 to various creditors. The Herald reported that while the City Council was likely to bail out the company, it looked very much as though the 1997 Mayfest would be the last (MacKenna Reference MacKenna1997). By mid-July 1997, the company had ceased trading. Shortly after it was announced that Mayfest was to be discontinued, Glasgow Folk Festival went into liquidation. According to a report in the Evening Times, the cause of both companies’ demise was financial difficulty resulting from poor box-office sales (Duff Reference Duff1997). The Folk Festival faced an additional challenge, as the Musicians’ Union were reported to be considering legal action against it after performers complained of non-payment (Duff Reference Duff1997). Although the GIJF team maintained publicly that the Jazz Festival had not been affected by the apparent summer slump, questions were inevitably raised in the press about what the shifting shape of Glasgow's festival programme would mean for the Jazz Festival.

Unfortunately, a much-needed increase in sponsorship income was not forthcoming and, by 1997, GIJF found itself with a deficit which had increased to almost £55,000. Derek Gorman left the organisation, and a new management structure – one which dramatically reduced the company's salary expenditure – was put in place. The task of increasing income from sponsorship fell to professional fundraiser Lesley Boyd, who set a target of £60,000 for the 1998 Festival (Boyd et al. Reference Boyd, Garrity, Millen, Mussett, Pinkham and Rodger1997). In order to reach this target, the new team aimed to develop a Corporate Membership scheme ‘… which would provide a base from which to strengthen and expand financial support within the local business community’ (Boyd et al. Reference Boyd, Garrity, Millen, Mussett, Pinkham and Rodger1997). However, the timescale involved was tight, and Boyd recognised a need to focus efforts on title sponsorship, aiming to ‘… streamline the sponsorship opportunities for the ’98 and future festivals by securing a single main sponsor, then securing sponsors for individual concerts’ (Boyd Reference Boyd1998a).

1999–2001

Boyd's approach to finding sponsorship was more strategic than that of her predecessor. In 1999 she reported to the Board of Directors that she intended to apply a methodology which involved careful identification and monetary valuation of the benefits on offer to potential sponsors. Boyd noted, however, that the formula she intended to use had been designed for sports events, and was ‘more difficult for arts events without significant media coverage’ (Boyd Reference Boyd1999a). Media coverage, of course, is another key way in which an event can offer additional value to a sponsor, providing it with brand visibility beyond the audience in attendance. Unfortunately, for GIJF, securing coverage in broadcast media has proved consistently difficult to secure.

Boyd had her sights set on drinks companies in general, and Glenmorangie in particular. While securing title sponsorship was a longer term goal, GIJF's management team recognised that corporate hospitality events, as well as promotional opportunities, had a role to play in building relationships with sponsors (Boyd Reference Boyd1998a). Boyd also recognised the importance of developing long-term partnerships, and suggested that some degree of year-round activity – such as workplace concerts – might help to maintain GIJF's profile among its sponsors (Boyd Reference Boyd1998b, p. 2).

Glenmorangie represented a promising option, having set aside a substantial promotional budget and indicating a specific interest in jazz (Boyd Reference Boyd1999a). Problematically, this put GIJF in direct competition with Edinburgh-based Assembly Direct, who promoted live jazz on a year-round basis (primarily at Queen's Hall) (Boyd Reference Boyd1999a). While major sponsorship from Glenmorangie would represent a success in its own right, Boyd also viewed it as an important way of raising the Festival's profile with other drinks companies:

By now well established as the Festival's key venue, The Old Fruitmarket was proving to be far from suitable as a space in which to host events involving the sponsors. Boyd reported that ‘many prospective sponsors’ were put off by the low standard of corporate hospitality at the Council-run venue (Boyd Reference Boyd1999a). In terms of securing a deal with Glenmorangie, a more specific problem was the Council's prohibitive position on product sampling, at that time the sponsor's ‘primary demand’ and therefore a potential deal breaker (Boyd Reference Boyd1999a).Footnote ⁵ Matters were not helped by the fact that liaison with two Council departments – Performing Arts and Venues, and Catering and Cleansing – was required in order to ensure that restrictions were lifted (Boyd Reference Boyd1999a). Finally, Boyd reported that Glasgow City Council had agreed to meet Glenmorangie's conditions, and that this was a ‘huge step forward’ in terms of the working relationship between GIJF and the Council (Boyd Reference Boyd1999a).

The resulting deal saw Glenmorangie become the 1999 Festival's joint main sponsor, along with Atlantic Telecom. The relationship between the two sponsors was manageable but not ideal, with the whisky brand's desire to offer on-site product sampling proving to be a particular source of tension (Boyd Reference Boyd1999a); however, Glenmorangie deemed the event sufficiently successful to warrant the serious consideration of a three-year title sponsorship deal (Boyd Reference Boyd1999c).

Once again, GIJF found themselves in competition with jazz promoters in Edinburgh. Boyd explained that:

By 2000, GIJF had offered Glenmorangie a three-year title sponsorship deal, while still considering other large sponsorship deals and still more single-concert and in-kind sponsorship (Boyd Reference Boyd2000a). The deal with Glenmorangie, comprising £40,000 cash and a promotional budget worth another £40,000, took into account a number of factors. Working in GIJF's favour were its reputation and its strength as a ‘promotional tool’, as well as its existing relationship with the whisky brand. Working against the Festival were its audience size and type – described as ‘niche’ – and the ‘standard of corporate facilities available’ (particularly at the Old Fruitmarket) (Boyd Reference Boyd2000a).

Initially, the partnership between GIJF and Glenmorangie proved to be fruitful, and the working relationship strong. As noted by journalist Kenny Mathieson, ‘jazz and booze have had a close association for some time’ (Mathieson Reference Mathieson2000, p. 18); Glenmorangie capitalised on this association, creating a joint brand with GIJF on the theme ‘The Spirit of the Festival’, complete with a ‘glass trumpet’ logo. ABSA (now itself rebranded as Arts and Business Scotland) instigated an annual awards programme to celebrate and reward strong partnerships between arts organisations and their commercial sponsors. As well as nominating Glenmorangie for an award, GIJF – with other arts organisations – petitioned Arts and Business to extend their pairing scheme beyond new partnerships, so that new deals with existing sponsors might be eligible for matched funding. Such a change would allow potential sponsors to commit to shorter, trial periods in the first instance without compromising the possibility of matched funding (Boyd Reference Boyd2000a); this serves to illustrate that the landscape had become more difficult for arts organisations to navigate, with sponsors demanding more opportunities for short-term partnerships.

As time progressed, however, GIJF was reminded that – as illustrated by Bill Sweeney's earlier observation about the relationship with Guinness – commercial sponsorship is as much about individual contacts as organisational priorities. A change of personnel at Glenmorangie made communication between the companies less straightforward and threw the title sponsorship deal into doubt. Boyd wrote that:

In reviewing the title sponsorship deal, Boyd later reported, the whisky brand was ‘… particularly anxious to see an increase in audience numbers’ (Boyd Reference Boyd2000b), once again demonstrating that access to people is the most important consideration to a commercial partner. In 2001 – a year before the original deal had been due to expire – Glenmorangie announced that it was discontinuing its relationship with GIJF, citing a perceived lack of ‘national and international coverage’ among its reasons, as well as a mismatch between GIJF's audience and its own target market of 25–35 year-olds (Boyd Reference Boyd2001).