BMW Motorrad will sponsor the inaugural Pure & Crafted Festival
German automaker BMW is continuing its push for cultural prestige by sponsoring the Pure & Crafted Festival, a two-day indoor/outdoor event set to take place at Postbahnof in Berlin.
The inaugural festival presented by motorcycle brand BMW-Motorrad, which will take place later this month, is being billed as a mix of rock music, motorcycle culture and New Heritage lifestyle. The lineup consists largely of newer rock acts and the festival also contains an urban scene marketplace, making the Pure & Crafted Festival a good place for BMW to reach a new market.
“The Pure & Crafted Festival combines for the first time music, motorcycle culture and New Heritage lifestyle to merge into an unforgettable experience for all festival attendants,” said Liane Drews, corporate affairs and communication, BMW Motorrad, Munich. “The Pure & Crafted Festival in this way corresponds closely to the BMW Motorrad brand image ‘Make Life A Ride,’ which centers around people’s lifestyle in the motorcycle community. Always on the spotlight: lust for life, fulfillment, freedom and individuality.”
New heritage
While the indoor festival space will include hand-made products and exhibitions and workshops from other brands, the outdoor space is dedicated exclusively to motorcycles. Events will include a hellrider show in the city’s iconic Motordome, a Festival Bike Build-Off and a lottery for the Pure & Crafted Festival Bikes, test rides and custom bike garages.
Berlin's Pure & Crafted Festival will be held Aug. 28-29
The festival thus positions BMW consumers as a community akin to that of of music fans, selling the brand as a lifestyle in a way that is more likely to appeal to younger consumers. The integration of a marketplace into the space between the festival’s two venues also ensures that attendees understand that the festival is about more than just music.
Although BMW-Motorrad is targeting attendees based on their lifestyle, it is also creating an opportunity to turn millennials into loyal customers, as music festival crowds tend to skew young.
“In case of the Pure & Crafted Festival the focus is not so much on the age of the audience but more on the target group which lives the special lifestyle that is expressed by this event,” Ms. Drews said. “But the relatively young age of the people who live the New Heritage lifestyle, who enjoy customizing their bikes, who enjoy good music and cherish their freedom and their individuality is a very much appreciated side effect.”
BMW F 800 GS
Younger consumers also value brands that provide experiences rather than material things. Not only will the association between BMW-Motorrad and music make the brand more appealing, but the brand’s role in creating a weekend-long experience that integrates the New Heritage lifestyle, music and motorcycles for festival attendees will demonstrate BMW-Motorrad’s centrality to the lifestyle.
Cultural capital
This year, BMW has heavily sought to gain cultural capital through sponsorship.
In June, BMW boosted its cultural credentials by extending the free open-air event “Staatsoper für alle” for music lovers around the world.
The State Opera Choir led the concert through many iconic pieces that resonated both on the festival grounds and also on digital connections in various countries. While brands strive to differentiate themselves through excellent product offers, cultural associations can sometimes play a bigger role in influencing how consumers perceive them (see story).
That same month, BMW aimed to keep consumers engaged with a number of events as the official sponsor of Germany’s prominent golf tournament, the BMW International Open.
As the title sponsor of the tournament, BMW undoubtedly received plenty of publicity, but this year the automaker went above and beyond. With additional events that promised to keep consumers entertained in a variety of ways, BMW ensured that the tournament reached a wide audience (see story).
Pure & Crafted is only the latest in a long line of sponsorships that suggest BMW's proximity to culture.
"BMW has a long history of sponsoring cultural events," Ms. Drews said. "This can be music events but also a broad variety of other cultural events."
Final Take
Forrest Cardamenis, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York