Sunburn 10 Generates INR 250 Cr. Business for Pune Economy Reveals Percept

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Entertainment | January 10, 2017 | News

Percept Sunburn

Sunburn 10 created history at Sunburn Hills, Kesnand, on the Pune-Ahmednagar highway, near Pune. Moving to a brand-new home after a 9 year stay in Goa, Sunburn, one of the world’s largest music festivals saw a phenomenal turnout of festival goers in its annual showcase with massive layout, huge stages, state of the art production, best in class SFX and technology with an ecstatic artist line up.

The official ticketing partner for Sunburn, BookMyShow.com reported attendance of fans from all parts of the country while Viagogo.com ensured fans from over 30 countries attended the festival with a large majority coming in from the Middle East, Europe and South East Asia.

Carving its niche as the preferred lifestyle brand of the millennial generation, the festival IP owners Percept have revealed that Sunburn 10 contributed approximately Rs.1.4 crores as direct revenue to the government and generated a business of about INR 250 crores for the region through hotel, F&B, transport and miscellaneous expenses incurred by the festival goers.

While media reports indicated a decline in the hotel business in Goa in 2016 with a steep drop in hotel rates, the hotel industry in Pune recorded an upswing in both the rates and occupancy.

From a single tea stall on the way to sunburn hills, the road became a busy street with food joints coming up almost every day everywhere. There was some one selling water, food, soft drinks, biscuits, fruits, and party props everywhere.  Every vacant piece of land became a pay and park.

The transport sector benefitted considerably with the festival happening in the region. Both private and public transport saw a huge surge in demand for their services. Ola had designated cabs for the festival that ensured fans were transported to and from the festival venue in a seamless manner. 

Owning over 90% of the festival IP market, Sunburn 10 was hosted from 28th December to 31st December 2016 and saw an investment of close to INR 30 crores with the entire event being put together in a span of 45 days by a team of over 3,000 people who worked around the clock to ensure the stature and magnitude of the festival. About 2,500 people helped on-ground to ensure the festival was conducted smoothly over 4 days. As a part of Sunburn’s CSR initiative, a lot of partnering brands brought forward customized solutions and services for the festival.

Brand Activations & Experiential Zones

The 10th edition of Sunburn was high on experiential marketing as it saw as many as 20 brands engaging the audiences on-ground by enhancing their festival experience.

Eureka Forbes ensured festival-goers had 24x7 free access to drinking water while Renault and Gionee provided free mobile charging stations.

At the Ola Select Lounge fans could pre-book their shuttles and cabs to ensure there weren’t any last-minute hassles. The shuttles and cabs promoted Don’t drink and Drive policy of the brand.

ATMs provided by Yes Bank were placed strategically for the festival goers to always have cash at their disposal. All festival-goers had full internet connectivity with special telecom support provided by Airtel with 2 towers set up in the region which formerly faced zero connectivity.

Bajaj Electricals had created an eco-friendly art piece called Tree Of Light which featured energy saving lights mounted on a barren tree painted in sparkling white which encouraged the habit of saving energy in the youth for a better future apart from a beautifully lit up entry tunnels into the festival. The company was also responsible for lighting up the path to Sunburn Hills. The ‘Hollywood inspired’ Sunburn hills lettering placed on the hilltop that welcomed festivalgoers from a distance as they approached the venue.

Renault KWID had one of the most unique car displays with one Kwid model being given away to one lucky contest winner while the Renault Lounge had a photo booth and a dedicated food truck.

Gionee had the second largest stage in the festival. The two storey Gionee Lounge, self-sufficient with bean bags and a dedicated sprawled out bar area perched atop the hills gave attendees a beautiful view of the Main Stage apart from the Anti-Gravity Zone where festival goers got a feeling of being upside down and a Dark Room Selfie Zone where festival goers could take selfies using the S6 model.

The Smirnoff Experience Zone was elevated comfort seating for fans along with the selfie booth.

The FBB Lounge saw festival goers taking a foot massage while some got themselves groomed by makeover artists while others posed against a mannequin cut out for fun photographs.

Skybags had an activity zone with interesting games like Mechanical Bull, Skybags Maze, Boxing Knock Out and the winners were gratified with user friendly Skybags. Helium balloons with Skybags imprinted on them were used to light up the skies in the night.

Apart from the appealing stage, The Rayban Dance Zone featured models dressed in the head to toe masked outfits in their brand colors while The Rayban Activity Zone had confetti blasts and blowers where festival goers had to catch electric colored flyers and would be rewarded with discount coupons. The Rayban Chill Out Zone saw couples taking refuge from the afternoon sun in the artistic RCC pipes. The Rayban Never Hide Sounds Stage attracted the lovely ladies in numbers.

Clear Trip ensured fans had their first ever-camping experience.

Kingfisher Beer World had special cards where festival goers got an exclusive opportunity to win free merchandise, or access into the premium Kingfisher Lounge.

The ITC Virtual Reality Zone gave festival goers a chance to feel up close and personal with their artists of choice and a 360 view of the festival using Google Glasses. 

Woodland hosted a zipline section while The Red Bull Wig Wams made for a good-looking display at the festival.

Security and Audience Management

A total taskforce of over 5,500 personnel including 1,000 security guards, 50 sniffer dogs and 200 CCTV cameras which gave a live feed to the police control room ensured Sunburn 10 was a safe and drug free event with and emphasized on Sunburn’s zero tolerance policy against banned substances. The event was conducted within the directives as laid down by the Narcotics Control Bureau and CDSCO.

Also as a part of Sunburn’s “leave no trace” policy and norms laid down by the waste pollution board and environment conversation board, all measures were taken to ensure sanitization of the venue and orderly disposal of waste post the event.

Ample security, medical, quick response team, CCTV camera setup, police and Fire hazard precautions helped ensure Sunburn 10 was a zero error and mishap free event.

A new brand extension this year, Sunburn Echo, a live stream event hosted in 5 cities featuring a live emcee, DJs, SFX and the works gave an authentic experience of Sunburn 10. Jaipur, Raipur, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Vizag saw a cumulative attendance of over 20,000 fans at the Sunburn Echo.

The technical team ensured the entire venue was fully equipped with a high speed network connection required for live streaming and security systems to function without any differ in relay. A total of approximately 400 meters of fiber cabling were laid down across the venue with a dedicated 300 MBPS speed of data uplink and downlink. The prowess of Sunburn was also reflective in the seamless LIVE mixing and streaming of the entire event on Facebook. A total of 5 HD broadcast cameras with 40X lenses and a sound craft mixer to record isolated and group tracks from two different stages simultaneously captured every element of the festival in high definitional and relayed live across the world. A live editor ensured the fans viewing the feed didn’t miss any part of the mega extravaganza. Right from the action on-stage to candid moments with the artists and fan reactions, the overall stream was packaged and relayed real-time. The same technology was also used in telecasting the Live feed in all cities that hosted Sunburn echo. The entire setup and execution was manned by 40 skilled professionals who ensured a glitch-free experience.

Airtel also setup a network tower, which offered 4G speed to festival attendees. The CCTV cameras worked on WIFI technology to ensure they couldn’t be vandalized.

The Live stream on Facebook received phenomenal response with a reach of 55 million and 69 million impressions, 8.5 million views. Total live stream was 1052 minutes covering 22 artists. Exponential shares and engagement over the 4 days of the festival.

Experience Zones

There were more than 30 experience zones including food stalls, flea markets, adventure sport offerings, artist village and the biggest camping site at a homegrown festival. The technology, dancers, sound & lighting effects and stage designs were planned keeping in mind the global standards and experience. All the raw material and manpower for the stalls were sourced from the region and contributed to employment and revenues to the state.

Sunburn 10 saw a total of 100+ artists, 300 + hours of explosive music, both onstage and at the pre and post parties at Blue Frog, Miami, House of Medici, Stone Water Grill, Oak Lounge, The Bottle Street, Evviva and F Beach among other venues.

The event saw a sponsor integration of more than 20+ brands with every brand integrating a unique concept – including Renault, Gionee, Kingfisher, Smirnoff, Ola, FBB, Rayban, Sky Bags, Spice Jet, Clear Trip local, Pepsi and other partners such as Red Bull, Woodland, ICICI, Kwality Walls, Dot Shot, ITC among others. 

Main Stage

The 300 feet wide and 100 feet high Main Stage, which prides itself on being one of the world’s largest, titled ‘Dance Garden’, drew its core inspiration from the importance of conservation of nature. To inculcate a sense of preservation of the environment in the youth, from lighted creepers to electro pop mammoth daisies to majestic peacocks to the golden cranium of the sun, top of the line DJs took center stage in a grotto crowned by a phoenix officially heralding the 10th year anniversary celebrations of India’s most loved multi-act dance music brand. The stage comprised of 300 moving heads (intelligent lighting), 4500 sq. feet of LED and more than 100 boxes of sound. This was one of the most awe-inspiring stages ever seen globally.

After Spinnin Records Stage debut in 2015, international label Monstercat made its first appearance with its own stage featuring Puppet, Haywyre and Pegboard Nerds while the Rayban Never Hide Sounds Stage, The Soma Project, The Techno Deep House Stage, Vinyl Ambulance and The Gionee Stage played the role of support stages flawlessly.

Speaking post the festival Karan Singh, CEO, Sunburn said – “Sunburn 10 was a super success. We are happy to have brought in substantial returns to the local economy and create business opportunities for the Kesnand region and Pune. We are grateful to the fans, artists, crew, partners and sponsors and all the concerned departments of government of Maharashtra for their incredible support. Our aim has always been to benchmark India in the dance music scene amongst other global players in the market. Sunburn has redefined music tourism in India.”

Sumit Sawhney, Country CEO and Managing Director, Renault India Operations commented, “With Sunburn we have been able to establish great engagement with the youth of the country and have seen quality footfalls across India. This year we ran a contest to give away a brand new Renault Kwid and the response received was amazing. When I heard of Sunburn moving from Goa to Pune, I was concerned but must say that these guys really pulled it off. I think this year Sunburn didn’t miss Goa, but Goa did miss Sunburn. Well done Sunburn.”

Arvind R Vohra, Managing Director& Country CEO, Gionee said –“Sunburn from Goa to Kesnand; A coup. No idea how they managed. The Gionee Anti-Gravity zone and the Dark Room Selfie room was a great hit with the fans. The zone was buzzing and it was a great vibe. Surely sunburn has developed into an ultimate lifestyle festival experience with the magnitude increasing with each passing year.  Our Selfie your way to sunburn campaign was a great hit with the fans and lastly must add the weather was awesome. Didn’t really miss hot and humid Goa. With live music becoming increasingly popular among the millennials Sunburn is an apt brand alignment.”

Saurabh Rao, Collector District Pune said, “Sunburn did have initial opposition locally, but given the teams commitment and support from the State tourism department, they did manage to pull off an extremely good, safe, clean and large event that put Kesnad and Pune on the global music tourism map. They did live up to their reputation and commitment. The employment and business opportunity provided to the region should actually make them more than welcome in future years. I would also like to add a word of appreciation for all the Pune and rural state machinery that provided all the support to pull a large scale event of this level”

Jaykumar Rawal, Minister Tourism, Government of Maharashtra, said, "Having seen the contribution Sunburn made to tourism in Goa, Maharashtra Tourism welcomes Sunburn's move to Maharashtra. I was intrigued at their choice of Kesnand over many other options in the state. They did make the right choice and have successfully put Kesnand and Pune on the global music tourism map. The Facebook live stream numbers are a testimony of their global fan following. The support from their fans and attendance in large numbers makes all our joint efforts worthwhile as this stimulates the economic cycle from rickshaw to restaurants to hotels for brand Poona. I wish them success and hope they make Maharashtra their permanent home "

Sunburn retained its spot as one of the top global festivals this year with a stacked lineup that included the best that the main stage had to offer as well as a few surprises. KSHMR, Axwell ^ Ingrosso and Armin van Buuren returned this year to wow the crowd with their undisputed presence on the global main stage. Adding a dash of swag to the headliner list, dance music heavyweights Afrojack and Dimitri Vegas Like Mike empowered the crowd with their musical finesse. Debuting at the festival this year was the hardstyle genre with the Angerfist and Miss K8. For the first-time Sunburn was hosted on New Year’s Eve giving fans an opportunity to usher in 2017 with a DJ of their choice.

Armin van Buuren said, “The new venue is magical. I loved the view whilst driving up to the hill… It was fantastic to watch some of the artists close their sets with the sunset.”