11 Winning Festival Sponsorship Ideas to Elevate Your Next Event

Hosting a festival is a massive and rewarding undertaking! Nothing beats the joy of celebrating shared interests in music, food, cultures, art, and more with a community of passionate fans. To put on this incredible type of event for thousands of people, sponsors are key to making it happen. It’s a win-win scenario — they help fund your events, and you help bring exposure and leads to their business.

When attracting sponsors, it’s crucial to establish the return on investment (ROI) of your sponsorship packages and build out offerings that are enticing to businesses. Here are some creative and impactful ideas from our team to include in your festival sponsorship packages!

1. Naming Rights

What better way for your sponsors to spread awareness than by attaching their name to the actual title of your festival? Offering naming rights as a top-tier sponsorship opportunity means that at every touch point between your festival and attendees, the sponsor’s brand will take center stage. Think about iconic examples like the “Vans Warped Tour” or the “Honda Civic Tour.” Don’t just stop at the festival’s name; consider naming rights for stages too! Each main stage and side stage can be branded, providing high visibility for your sponsors and ensuring their name is associated with these memorable moments.

2. Event App

In today’s digital age, a mobile app for your festival is a must-have, giving sponsors an excellent opportunity to place ads within the app. You can also have a dedicated tab to showcase your sponsors, featuring their logos and links to their websites and social media. Want to level up your app sponsorships? Incorporate gamification to encourage fun engagement with sponsor brands. For instance, create challenges that reward prizes and drive traffic to sponsor booths. Gamifying app interactions connects fans with your sponsors in a genuine way while generating leads, and adds an extra layer of excitement to your festival experience.

3. Dedicated Venue Areas

Elevate brands by letting them sponsor the most exclusive spots at your festival! Offer sponsorships for seating areas, VIP lounges, or even the entire lawn area. You could also offer sponsored chill stations with phone charging, large fans, or water refills, ensuring maximum visibility for your sponsors in comfortable locations. Guests will associate their brand with the unforgettable moments they enjoy, leaving a great lasting impression of your sponsors. 

4. Strategic Logo Placements

Strategically placing sponsor logos throughout your festival ensures they get maximum exposure! Place logos on your festival website, event landing page, and ticketing page. Social media shoutouts are just as effective — post on Instagram stories (and pin them as highlights), create TikTok videos, and put content on other platforms to highlight your sponsors. Consider adding sponsor logos on wristbands, badges, lanyards, and display it on signage across your venue. Rotating screens at your stages between concerts or events can also feature sponsor logos, giving them the spotlight even during downtimes.

5. After-Parties and Exclusive Events

Special panels, after-parties, and other additional events associated with your festival can be incredible opportunities for sponsors to promote their brand in new, fresh ways! At these exclusive events, the sponsor’s branding can be displayed everywhere, including signage, photo booth backdrops, plates and napkins, swag bags, and beyond. Sponsors could even finance a livestream of the festival, reaching a wider audience who may not otherwise be able to attend the festival. Those dedicated fans will have your sponsor to thank for it! You could place their branding around the livestream, direct them to visit your sponsor’s website, and give them additional shoutouts.

6. Free Handouts to Attendees

Everyone loves freebies! Offer clear branded tote bags, handheld fans, or festival T-shirts with sponsor logos printed on them. You could also let sponsors hand out their swag at a designated location on your festival grounds, and even add business cards or samples of their products to your swag bag. The key is to ensure these handouts are practical and relevant, making attendees appreciate and remember the sponsor’s brand.

7. Giveaways

Everyone loves a good giveaway! Partner with sponsors for giveaways of their product or voucher alongside some free tickets or VIP passes to your next festival. This not only draws attention to your sponsors, but also excites your attendees. You could also offer complimentary VIP passes to your sponsors that they can use within their company or give away to their most loyal customers!

8. Photo Booths

Photo booths are always a hit at festivals! Let your sponsors get creative by decoratively incorporating their brand into a photo booth background that fits your festival’s theme. With an aesthetically pleasing backdrop, you’re sure to have attendees lining up to take photos to post on their social media! You could even offer complimentary printed or digital photos with the sponsor’s logo in the border of the image to create lasting mementos while marketing their brand.

9. Onsite Vendor Booths

Unlock unparalleled brand engagement with a dedicated booth space at our festival! This prime opportunity allows companies to showcase its products or services and talk with your attendees one-on-one. It also provides an opportunity for product demonstrations or sampling, as well as helping sponsors collect valuable data and feedback through surveys or sign-ups. For these booths, be sure to put them in high-traffic areas like near entrances to give sponsors the best chance of meeting people and gaining new customers. For summer festivals, placing large fans near the booths gives people a chance to cool off while getting acquainted with the sponsors. 

10. Festival Wi-Fi

Highly attended festivals require super strong cell network connections, so people will seriously appreciate it if you provide a festival-wide Wi-Fi sponsorship opportunity. Attendees will appreciate staying connected online all day long, and your sponsor will enjoy massive exposure to every connected festival-goer. When attendees sign into the WiFi, you could even let sponsors choose what they’d like to include on the welcome page.

11. Exclusive Drinks

Want to draw some extra attention to sponsors in the beverage industry? Offer an “official energy drink” or “official beer” sponsorship where their brand is displayed throughout the festival at each drink station. Consider offering these official beverages at discounted rates or even provide some free samples to really boost the sponsor’s ROI. Your attendees will thank you later for helping them find their new favorite drink!

Crafting Your Perfect Festival Sponsorship Package

Now you’ve got a handful of festival sponsorship ideas to try! When pitching to potential sponsors, remember to focus on the strongest fits for your specific festival type. Usually, it’s best to highlight two or three crystal clear perks in your sponsorship packages that can demonstrate tangible ROI rather than vague benefits. As you work to elevate your festival sponsorship packages, Leap’s attendee engagement solution can offer key placements within your mobile app and better engage your attendees with gamification and data collection. With these winning festival sponsorship ideas, you’re well on your way to creating a successful, unforgettable event!