Life is Beautiful sponsorship revenue expected to triple
When it comes to sponsorship dollars and the Life Is Beautiful downtown festival, what a difference a year makes for event founder Rehan Choudhry.
Last year, Choudhry had to explain to prospective sponsors that yes, it’s a first-year festival in Las Vegas, and no, it’s not on the Strip, and yes, it’s going to be downtown.
This year, Choudhry and the three-day music/art/culinary/learning festival — after scoring high grades in its inaugural year in 2013 and becoming a nationally known festival brand — is reaping the financial sponsorship benefits of what he likes to refer to as “proof of concept.”
Choudhry said sponsorship revenue is projected to be up three times over last year’s numbers, with sponsorship dollars accounting for 35 percent of the festival’s overall revenue.
He declined to identify a specific sponsorship revenue number for 2014, but described it in the millions of dollars but less than $10 million.
“It feels a lot better to come off an event that has history. We have a good foundation to work off of,” Choudhry said. The event drew about 30,000 people a day for the two-day event in October and is expected to attract 30,000-40,000 daily for this year’s Oct. 24-26 event. Choudhry’s Aurelian Marketing, Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Partnership and Joey Vanas’ MAKTUB Marketing are the partners putting on Life Is Beautiful.
Life Is Beautiful is following a new sponsorship model. Instead of enlisting more than 30 sponsors like the event did last year, Life Is Beautiful is spurning the “logo soup” in favor of having a dozen or so eclectic core sponsors, with deals tailored to the brand’s interest. There is no sponsorship pay levels — just unique agreements fashioned to meet the sponsor’s needs.
“Sponsorships are a critical (revenue) category and a high-risk category. Our attendees are smart. You can’t (fool) them with brands that don’t align with our values and see the world as we do,” Choudhry said this week. “It’s a challenge. We will forgo short-term income in favor of long-term brand value sponsorships.”
Returning sponsors are Zappos, Wirtz Beverage, Heineken, Red Bull, Caesars Entertainment, The D Las Vegas, Las Vegas Events and Silicon Valley Bank.
Life Is Beautiful also scored two new major sponsors — World Education University, which provides tuition-free education to students in 173 countries, and popsugar.com, the festival’s “online content partner” and a website that posts news on celebrities, fitness, love and beauty.
Under a seven-figure, three-year deal, Newport Beach, Calif.-based WEU acquired the content rights that it will use during and after the festival, said Josh Ripple, Life Is Beautiful chief operating officer. WEU can use the festival’s content for live streaming or a post-event packaged show, Ripple said. “They will have the rights to use all festival programming categories contingent on receiving talent approval from a clearance standpoint,” Ripple wrote in an email.
Curtis Pickering, WEU chairman and CEO, said the event’s live streaming will also be used as a fundraiser.
“They will get exposure, and that’s what we’ll get, more exposure. So, it’s a good partnership,” said Pickering, who began talking with Life Is Beautiful only two months ago.
Meanwhile, the popsugar.com deal provides for both the website and Life Is Beautiful to create co-branded content, Ripple said. For example, a Life Is Beautiful chef or popsugar contributing chef can create a unique food offering that would be taped and presented in advance of the festival and featured at the event in October, he said.
“During the festival, popsugar would have the ability to be on-site to capture content that could be presented to their various distribution platforms (websites and cable platform networks) in short form, similar to how an Access Hollywood would be provided access to the site and broadcast something that is developed in conjunction with the talent and/or event,” Ripple said in the email.
“Access and use of performances are not a key component to our partnership, and we have not provided them the rights to transmit such performances,” he noted.
Choudhry said the economy’s improving health, along with good attendee experiences in year one and one extra day in Year Two, gave Life Is Beautiful leverage to ask for higher sponsorship prices and be more selective.
“We have an eclectic mix of sponsors. To say it’s a nontraditional event is putting it lightly,” Choudhry said.
Las Vegas President Pat Christenson said his nonprofit agency, which promotes and markets events for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, paid $150,000 as a sponsor in 2013 and is paying the same this year.
One statistic that likely caught Christenson’s eye: More than half of the attendees are expected to be out-of-towners.
Kevin Roberts, Wirtz Beverage Nevada senior vice president, said his company will use its deal to not only sell drinks but also educate attendees on unique cocktails and artisanal wines and beers.
Asked about the sponsorship’s financial value, Roberts listed various brands that will be at the festival.
The festival declined to sign companies that sell e-cigarettes, energy drinks and hangover cures, Choudhry said. “There is value in the perception that you’re not sleeping with everyone,” Choudhry said of signing less sponsors this year.
The variety of sponsors matches the diverse demos of the festival’s visitors, who range in age from 2-70, including the 18-22 music fans and the 35-45 culinary enthusiasts.
Contact reporter Alan Snel at asnel@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273. Follow @BicycleManSnel on Twitter.
