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There are no festivals without summer and no festivals without Kasteel. This year again, Kasteel is completing the lineup at various events. Gareth Linskens, Events & Hospitality Manager, takes you to the festivals and guides you through the ‘Kasteel at the Festivals’ summer schedule.
We are starting with a premiere. We are the first brewery to launch a limited edition festival can. ‘About five years ago, Pepsi MAX launched personalised Tomorrowland cans on the market to celebrate their four-year collaboration. We want to do something similar but then for three festivals,’ Gareth explains.
For Ostend Beach, Hype’O Dream and Highlight Festival we created a sleeve in the house style of the respective festival. ‘There will be four cans in total because we made two versions for Ostend Beach: cans for this year and a version that looks ahead to the 2024 edition. The organisers are more than pleased to be able to roll out these eye-catching cans.’
The four cans will provide a total of 90 hectolitres of Kasteel Rouge. ‘The cans are available exclusively at the respective festivals. This is a great test to see how well the personalised cans go down with a wide audience. Who knows, we may do this again, for example, with a fun retail promotion. We can go any which way with our cans and sleeves.’
Cans and reusable cups
New legislation means that cans – with or without personalised sleeves – are being welcomed with open arms this year. ‘Disposable cups have been banned on festival grounds since 15 July. Alongside PET bottles and reusable cups, cans will be the norm at events this summer. So, organisers are more than happy when we arrive with our cans of Kasteel Rouge,’ laughs Gareth.
The cans also offer many benefits to our brewery. ‘They have a significant added value during negotiations with festivals. On top of that, we don’t have to install tap systems and the kegs never run dry. The cans are also a godsend in terms of visibility.’ Large festivals, such as Ostend Beach prefer cans. That’s not the case at the smaller festivals: ‘They favour our reusable cups. In any case, we are going to build on this so that we can switch completely over to reusable cups by 2025.’
Own stage
Besides our cans, Kasteel Rouge will also be visible at the festivals in other ways. ‘At Ostend Beach and Aftrsun Festival in Aarschot, we are hosting a stage that we are decorating ourselves. We are also counting on our inflatables and bucket hats. That latter are real trendsetters; we see other (beer) brands launching their own versions too.’
The festival fever is growing on our social media channels as well. We launched a campaign even before the season kicked off. ‘Via the Kasteel at the Festival landing page, visitors can register for a chance to win free tickets. As soon as the giveaway kicks off on our socials, we send them a mail so they can take part. The pre-registration was a great success as it was.’
New names
So now we get to the most important question. At which festivals can you find our Kasteel Rouge this summer? ‘We have already featured at several festivals. For example, at our home match at Labadoux, where we sold a grand total of 15 kegs of Kasteel Rubus Framboise. In Oostende (BAYA and 7Even), Herentals (Afterwork and Replay Festival) and Izegem (Riverfest), our Kasteel Rouge adorned the posters.
As well as at our usual spots, such as Ostend Beach, Hype’O Dream, Buikrock and Highlight Festival, this year we will also be at Cirque Magique (Avelgem), Popmasters and Dreambeats (Kortemark), Elixir Open Air (Oudenburg), Festival Dranouter and Campo Solar (Damme).
‘Kasteel at the Festivals is one of our beer brand’s strategic pillars. As we move towards 2024, we want to further expand our concept to create even greater visibility at events and at festivals in particular,’ states Gareth.
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