Malawi’s most celebrated music and art festival ‘The Lake of Stars’ that kicked off on a high on the weekend of 27-29th September 2019 was a change of scenery as the festival was moved all the way up to Nkhatabay. Kachere Castle was designated to bear witness to it all.
Nkhatabay, a district located in the eastern part of Malawi is known for the massive lake area that is home to the popular batala and gelewa fish species. Apart from that, the district boasts vast tea, rubber and macadamia plantations. Encapsulated between hills and the lake. the massive hot temperatures in the district erase any doubt about ‘the land and sea breeze’ unit taught in our secondary days.
The eleven lines have observed that besides heroics of music and the bottle, there were remarkable initiatives that were displayed on the 15th edition of the festival. There was a greater number of Malawian products and services being paraded and the participation was overwhelming.
Of great record is the fact that the festival had a good mature crowd with zero recorded incidents of theft.
In all honesty and sincerity, the eleven lines would like to applaud organizers of Lake of Stars for improving its outlook as the years go by. Gratitude has to be given for bringing that marketing perspective in the event such that as much as patrons from different sectors of society are having a good time through art, they should also benefit on the business side.
This should be a wakeup call to other Malawian and foreign brands to make use of festivals like these to market their products and services. The benefits are immense as sponsorship has the power to ignite strong bonds between brands and customers.
So apart from being a means to display social responsibility, brand participation in events helps them generate awareness about themselves, their products and services. Participating in sponsoring can also help companies increase sales, either by selling at the event or indirectly by generating quality leads at the event. Furthermore, sponsoring events gives companies a recognition edge over their competitors.
Surely we are not aiming to match the returns and deals that the planet’s top festivals such as the Glastonbury, Tomorrowland, Coachella, Primavera and many others clinch. Not just yet, but at our own pace, we are aiming to improve.
Thomas Aquinas once said ‘if the primary aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it on port forever’. Marketers, go out there and zealously brave the competitive business world. Yours truly, the eleven lines.
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