Record Number Of Attendees At Brand Activations During Splendour in the Grass

Splendour in the Grass returned for its 19th year with a record attendance alongside a record number of brand partners, helping create an unforgettable festival.

Splendour in the Grass more than lived up to the hype with a capacity crowd of 42,500 making the journey to North Byron Parklands for the weekend festivities. Performances from superstars including Childish Gambino, Tame Impala and over 100 other artists primed the audience for the occasion. This year Splendour expanded ticket numbers to accommodate the growth in attendees, creating more opportunities for festival sponsors to entertain and engage with a huge audience. 

Splendour is music and much, much more. It is an experience feast, a festival within a festival, where creativity in all forms comes to life. The curated program creates a wonderland of workshops, arts, craft, panels, comedy and science to complement the diverse music line-up. This year the festival sponsors brought their A-game, which excited music fans and added to the festival creative program across the entire weekend. The on-ground impact was significant with 81% of attendees stating that the sponsor activations made them more likely to use the brand, and a further 65% felt more positive toward the brand.

All sponsors earned genuine brand love from attendees by crafting experiences to perfectly compliment the festival program, building powerful, direct relationships. Audiences shared their experiences a lot. Their excitement overflowed into native social amplification, which influenced thousands of non-attendees offering sponsors major kudos. Research tells us that live music fans are highly influential and 5.5 times more likely to be a “micro-influencer” than Australian non-live music goers*, meaning when they are inspired to share content it reaches a significant digital audience.

This year we saw a diverse group of brands collaborating with Secret Sounds Connect for the Splendour experience. Returning to activate at the festival were Visa, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, Carlton Dry, Strongbow, Contiki, Red Bull, Rimmel, Jacob’s Creek and G.H.MUMM and we welcomed new activations from THE ICONIC, OPPO, Tinder, Bonds, Durex, Herbal Essences and TOM Organic.

Visa mobile payments streamlined thousands of payment transactions so attendees could tap to pay with Visa on their mobile, alongside Visa’s perfectly curated outdoor cinema. 

Smirnoff brought back THE WILDS with the best-mixed drinks were served with big tunes, Captain Morgan invited audiences to board the ship with the Captain delivering unexpected events, Carlton Dry brought their beer to life creating an uncomplicated world inside a giant inflatable keg.

The award-winning THE ICONIC Laundromat came to Splendour for the first time after the huge success at Falls Festival. The venue returned seeing party attendees crawl through the jumbo washer into the music party, featuring huge artists like Winston Surfshirt, Friendly Fires and Alex Dyson. Thousands visited the Laundromat, while also taking advantage of the curated festival fashion in THE ICONIC retail store onsite. 

Tinder was the new kid on the block this year, creating the Tinder Block Party, a space for the wannabee lovers and the Music Lovers. The block party was part of the global Tinder Festival Mode release, which allows festival lovers to wear the Splendour badge on their Tinder profile to show their passion for music. We created SWIPE RIGHT™ Song Requests, giving fans the chance to dedicate songs to new and old loves. 

For a special spin on nightlife Contiki brought back their infamous Tiki Karaoke Bar where attendees could impress the crowd with their vocals, Red Bull delivered the best kickoff party on Thursday night continuing to support artists from across the globe, Bonds created a life-like bedroom to showcase the best Bonds has across refined basics and festival brights. 

To keep it edgy Rimmel offered the perfect service to keep attendees self-expression fresh all festival weekend, with make-up artists giving attendees that festival look, Jacob’s Creek delivered great wine and tunes at The Winery, G.H. MUMM brought our favourite bubbles at the Champagne Bar, TOM Organic offered their premium, organic cotton pads and tampons, while Herbal Essences kept attendees hair fresh and beautifully fragrant with their wash and style station onsite. Icebergs Dining Room & Bar opened up a premium dining experience with cultural curator restaurateur Maurice Terzini, supported by Visa, Smirnoff Infusions, Red Bull Organics and Hoegaarden.