Live Nation signs sponsorship deal with Smirnoff; will sponsor 26 music festivals

by: Lizzie Renck Mar 13, 2015

Live Nation‘s incremental diffusion into the electronic music sphere has brought into play one of the company’s most prestigious sponsorship deals to date: Smirnoff will become the official vodka sponsor of 26 festivals across the globe such as Electric Daisy, HARD, and Creamfields.

The Diageo-owned brand will help facilitate exclusive and more personal experiences between artists and fans — a take on the Smirnoff Sound Collective, which was launched in 2014. Ultimately, Smirnoff’s hope is to become more of a household brand among the dance music community by providing festival attendees the monumental opportunity to form closer relationship with their favorite DJs such as Steve Aoki, Zeds Dead, and Tommy Trash.

Global brand director for Smirnoff, Matt Bruhn, elaborates on the new musical partnership: “Smirnoff as a brand is all about inclusivity, enjoying life and having a great time, so we saw a natural fit in the electronic music genre and lifestyle. What we’re trying to do is not just advertise our way to success but act our way to success.”In Bruhn’s eyes, the dance music world is “positive” and “fun,” and there is so much work that Smirnoff could be doing to further delve into electronic music’s territory.

Rusell Wallach, Live Nation’s president of media and sponsorship, agrees that the collaboration “is a great model where we can develop consistencies around the world. They said to us from day one, ‘We want to create a great experience and bring the artist and fans closer together.’ And we’re now working closely with them to bring that to life.”

See below for the full roster of Smirnoff-sponsored festivals:

EDC – New York (U.S.)
EDC – Las Vegas (U.S.)
EDC – Orlando (U.S.)
Nocturnal Wonderland – Los Angeles (U.S.)
Beyond Wonderland – Los Angeles (U.S.)
Beyond Wonderland – San Francisco (U.S.)
Escape from Wonderland – Los Angeles (U.S.)
White Wonderland – Los Angeles (U.S.)
HARD Red Rocks – Denver (U.S.)
HARD Summer – Los Angeles (U.S.)
HARD Day Of The Dead – Los Angeles (U.S.)
Voodoo Music + Arts Experience – New Orleans (U.S.)
Wireless – London (UK)
EDC – London (UK)
Latitude – Suffolk (UK)
Reading (UK)
Leeds (UK)
V Festival North – Shropshire (UK)
V Festival South – Chelmsford (UK)
Creamfields – Liverpool (UK)
Glasgow Sessions (UK)
SonneMondSterne (Germany)
Rock’n’Heim (Germany)
Pinkpop (Netherlands)
We Are Electric (Netherlands)
Dcode (Spain)