SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE JULY 2016
Cavendish Beach Music Festival
That time has come upon us again as many head to the beach to bask in the Summer sun, and the beaches of Prince Edward Island are no different. Prince Edward Island, is the smallest province in both land area and population with approximately 146,000 residents and the only province of Canada to have no land boundary. It is also known for being the birthplace of Canada, potatoe farming, amazing beaches and for being a tourist destination since well before Canada’s Confederation. But a lot has changed; you do not have to take a boat to get on or off the Island any more, although the option is still available. One thing that has not changed over the years is the love for this Island paradise and the many wonders that it offers. More than 1.4 million tourists visit the tiny Island of Prince Edward Island yearly, with the majority of that coming in the summer months. Along with the tourists comes spending with more than $400 million being pumped into the economy.
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By Charlene Boyce L ooking at what Prince Edward Island has to offer who would ever think you’d find one of the “The World’s Greatest Country Music Festival” on a tiny jewel of an island best known for beaches, potatoes, golf, ice cream and a certain red-haired orphan? The story of the Lotto MAX presents Cavendish Beach Music Festival is a story of partnerships, and of the particular flavour of determi- nation one only finds in small, tight-knit communities. Hearken back to the early 2000s. Canada’s Maritime Prov- inces had begun attracting the kind of large outdoor music shows and festivals that can make a small town or place a major tourist destination. Canso, Nova Scotia had The Stan Rogers Folk Festival, informally known as Stanfest, a folk festival that has been drawing music fans internation- ally for 20 years. Halifax’s Citadel Hill and the Commons hosted music festivals and shows featuring acts like the Black Eyed Peas, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, and in 2008, Keith Urban. Parlee Beach and the Magnetic Hill concert site in New Brunswick had hosted large, popular music events for years, featuring acts as varied as AC/ DC and Alan Jackson. Strangely left out of the outdoor music party was arguably Canada’s most tourist-centric “If you build it, they will come.”
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province, Prince Edward Island.
business case for a concert venue in Prince Edward Island.
President of the Lotto MAX presents Cavendish Beach Music Festival Jeff Squires recalls seeing what was taking place in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick where thousands of people came to watch and listen to their favorite artist saying, “We were setting up shows on the waterfront and in other places, but none were right. It became clear that what Prince Edward Island needed was a venue.” It was the success of these larger events that helped support the
In what sounded like a line from the movie, Field of Dreams, “if you build it, they will come.” was Squires’ vision for Prince Edward Island outdoor music venue however, not everyone buys into that logic. Squires admits that the first challenge to surmount was education, so that is what he did.
“Sometimes people can’t imagine it till they see it, you know?”
LOTTO MAX is proud to sponsor the Cavendish Beach Music Festival
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Prince Edward Island’s natural attractions are something Jeff Squires is passionate about. He instinctively links tourism and the natural outdoor beauty of the Island to all his business ventures, and he has been associated with a few: after starting his career as a teacher, principal and hockey coach, he founded a marketing and communica- tions business, plus he’s President and CEO of the PEI Brewing Company. He acknowledges wryly that he must be part of the “this generation that’s going to have six or eight careers.” Firmly convinced that Prince Edward Island needed a destination music event to align with its already sizable tourism capital, Squires set out to find a site suitable for a festival. In 2008, he found the right spot: ironically it was a potato field; it was the right size and capacity for such an event. Strategically, he chose a location near Avonlea Village, anticipating in advance that attendees would look for other activities in the area and Cavendish Beach had it all. For the first, three-day show in 2009, Squires lined up country music heavy-hitters Tim McGraw and Reba McIntyre. “Everyone we talked to in the entertainment industry said, ‘if this is going to work, you need Reba,’ Jeff Squires told a crowd in May at the Canadian Market-
ing Association’s Atlantic conference. Why Reba? “Not only is she an A-list country star, she’s just got the best reputation as a real professional. If she’s involved in a thing, people know it’s legit.” This was the first time that the Cavendish Beach Music Festival used a strategic partnership to achieve its goals, a practice many events aspire to use and be as successful as the CBMF does for their event. “We were setting up shows on the waterfront and in other places, but none were right. It became clear that what Prince Edward Island needed was a venue.” Attendance the first year more than met the festival’s goals, so in 2010, organizers began to build permanent structures on the site to improve the experience. The festival was extended to five days, in order to better accommodate world-class acts including Lady Antebel- lum, Keith Urban and Taylor Swift. When Taylor Swift took the stage it was estimated that over 35,000 people were in attendance. Since then, stars visiting Prince Edward Island for the Cavendish Beach Music Festival have included Tanya Tucker, The Dixie Chicks, Brad Paisley, Dwight Yoakum, Darius Rucker, Rascal Flatts and Little Big Town – the list reads like a hit country radio station playlist. As anyone who’s organized an event can attest, talent is essential, but without logistics, promotion and support, nothing happens. Finding partners with aligned needs and interests who bring real value is one of the secret weapons of the best event planners. At the CMA Atlantic conference, Kim Doyle of Whitecap Entertainment talked about the value of partners to CBMF. She highlighted CAA’s role in helping distribute information about the festival through their network to potential tourists. iHeartRadio is another company happy to align with CBMF by presenting a free tailgate party. From a company release: “We are committed to raising awareness of iHeartRadio in Canada in advance of the brand’s coming launch, and our partnership with Lotto MAX presents Cavendish
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Beach Music Festival is a fantastic and timely way for us to engage the critical Maritime market,” said Rob Farina, Senior Advisor, iHeartRadio. “It’s no secret that music is a key component of the region’s rich cultural mosaic, and we are thrilled to connect iHeartRadio with such a pas- sionate and engaged audience.” “Sometimes people can’t imagine it till they see it, you know?” Doyle took special pains to spotlight title sponsor Lotto MAX, a brand managed by Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC). Through marketing analytics, the company iden- tified a niche audience that was strongly correlated with the attendees at the Cavendish Beach Music Festival. The partnership gives the CBMF sponsorship money and a fun twist on the regular swag concerts generally give out, while ALC has exclusive access to a targeted focus group for new products, plus the goodwill acquired through alignment with the featured country stars. It’s a win-win situation. This year, Lotto MAX is distributing an exclusive lottery product designed just for CBMF attendees, which means for some lucky attendees thewinningwill extend to the audience.
This year’s line-up includes; The Band Perry, country music and television super star - Blake Shelton and multiple Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year award winner - Kenny Chesney, along with many other amazing artists taking the stage over the three day event. Twen- ty-five percent of festival’s attendance is made up of Islanders, with the rest of the attendees coming from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and farther. The number of so-called “long-haul” attendees grows every year, Squires notes, as the event gains more inter- national recognition. The festival that Jeff Squires identified as the missing element needed to boost a slower period in PEI tourism has more than delivered. The Cavendish Beach Music Festival attendance is generally about 70,000 over the event. Just as partnerships matter to the festival, the festival seeks to be a great community partner, giving back over $1.5 million to local charities in Prince Edward Island over the years while driving millions into the economy since 2009. So we had to ask, which act is Squires most looking forward to seeing this year? “All of them,” he replies firmly. “It’s going to be a great show!”
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many thanks to our advertisers
www.lottomax.ca
CAVENDISH BEACH MUSIC FESTIVAL 8813 Cavendish Rd, Green Gables, PE C0A 1M0, Canada 1-844- 521-CBMF (2263) • info@cavendishbeachmusic.com
www.atlanticmotoplex.ca
www.cavendishbeachmusic.com
charlottetown.kkpcanada.ca
www.mrdonair.ca
as spotlighted in the JULY 2016 issue of SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
www.spotlightonbusinessmagazine.com
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