By Ayanna Kirton, Staff ReporterRED STRIPE, the Diageo-owned beer company and title sponsor for 'Reggae Sumfest', has invested some $20 million in the annual concert series, which is already underway in the island's
second largest city, Montego Bay, St James.
The six-day festival, which began on July 18 with a beach party, will feature an impressive line-up of local acts including Beres Hammond, Beenie Man, Sizzla and Bounty Killer as well as high profile international performers Lionel Richie and Kanye West, who are scheduled to perform in Jamaica for the first time at the Catherine Hall Entertainment Complex in Montego Bay.
According to Sumfest's promoters, the city of Montego Bay also stands to reap substantial financial gains from this year's event. The city's estimated earnings from the concert series are set at approximately $150 million and promoters say vendors and transportation providers are among those who will cash in on the millions that are estimated to be spent by patrons this year.
Wayne Lawrence, director of marketing for Red Stripe, said the company's investment in Sumfest was a "significant amount of Red Stripe's marketing budget" and that there was no major increase in the sum invested by Red Stripe in this year's staging of Sumfest when compared with previous years.
RETURNS
Mr. Lawrence noted that actual returns on this investment for Red Stripe were measured less by the number of cases of beer sold but rather on leveraging the brand with reggae music. For Red Stripe is more about "building the brand in the long term, connecting it with something that the consumers enjoy and find interesting," said Mr. Lawrence.
"We have found that both reggae music and Red Stripe are described in very similar terms," said the marketing director. "Both the roots and heritage of the music and the brand are things that resonate with consumers."
