Leeds agency, We are Syn teamed up with iconic shoe brand Sperry to engage the 150,000 people attending the Boardmasters festival in Newquay.
The agency created and delivered the brand experiences across two sites at Fistral Beach and Watergate Bay, as well as working together with Boardmasters to create the ‘Sperry presents’ Beach bar.
The Sperry and Boardmasters collaboration amplified the ‘Make Waves’ and ‘Water For All’ brand message to a UK festival audience. Collaborating with various artists and production partners to bring the brand to life over the four-day event.
Andy Hewat, senior brand director Sperry EMEA said: “This was our biggest brand moment of the year and to see it come to life and enjoyed by so many people was emotional. The guys at We are Syn did a fantastic job of really understanding what we wanted to achieve, the product stories we wanted to tell and how to excite and engage consumers. It was delivered seamlessly and being able to showcase this was a pleasure.”
Festival goers at Fistral Beach discovered the environmentally-friendly SeaCycled collection at the Sperry beach shack. Highlighting the issues of ocean waste, Sperry worked together with Surfers Against Sewage. Driving awareness and encouraging sign-ups to the Boardmasters beach clean, where people came together to clean up after the festival.
Collaborating with a Swedish artist, a collection of surfboards was created, each telling a unique story of ‘making waves’ to make a positive difference to the environment.
In Watergate Bay, music fans enjoyed a ‘water for all’ water bar, accessed a private viewing platform of the main stage acts, and enjoyed views of the Cornish coast. The activation promoted the Sperry Float range by enabling fans to choose from a collection of float-inspired water infusions and try and buy the ‘festival ready’ footwear for the four-day spectacular.
Brand engagements include an Instagram wall, spin-to-win wheel with ice cream treats, and exclusive limited edition festival merch.
Sperry is an iconic shoe brand that began manufacturing in 1935. They were the first boat shoes introduced to the boating and footwear markets.
Ben Pollard, managing director of We are Syn, said: “It was an absolute pleasure to work with the Sperry team to bring this to life for them. We worked hard to translate the brand and product stories. Making them relevant to engage and educate the festival audience, as well as land the key sustainable message Boardmasters were aiming to promote. To deliver this project from creative through to live event was amazing to see, and the response from everyone has been nothing but positive.”
The Boardmasters festival ran between 10 and 14 August in Cornwall. It featured 100s of bands and artists including Radio 1 and headline acts of George Ezra, Disclosure and Kings of Leon.
