Exclusive:Fringe Society poised to announce major sponsors in new cross-venue commercial model
The Fringe has launched ticket sales of its first shows for this year
Edinburgh Festival Fringe is on the verge of signing Fringe-wide sponsorship deals which will bring a new commercial model to the 79-year old event - almost a year after the organisation lost its last major sponsor.
Fringe Society chief executive Tony Lankester said he was brokering agreements with commercial partners which will link up cross venues, rather than sponsoring the society itself. The new style of partnership could range from advertising hoardings displayed across multiple major show locations, to opportunities for brands to demonstrate or hand out products outside of festival hubs.
He also revealed Edinburgh residents will be offered a discount on membership of the society’s Friends of the Fringe programme in response to an increasingly homegrown audience demographic.
Figures published last week by Edinburgh Council showed a growing trend for Fringe audiences from Edinburgh and elsewhere in Scotland, with a fall in the proportion from other areas of the UK - a trend which has largely been put down to the rising cost of staying overnight in the capital.
“We recognise that we need to tend to the people who are in our city in the first place,” Mr Lankester said. “It’s not a trend that we can run away from.”
He added: “When economic times are tough, people are obviously making more careful choices, and people look for entertainment closer to home. Given the expense of travelling and of staying in Edinburgh, until that gets completely sorted out, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing.
He added: “And while there might be a slight shift to more Scottish audiences, the content of what's on the stage is not parochial, it's global.”
The Fringe Society has today opened its first shows for sale for this year’s festival, with Scottish comedians Connor Burns and Craig Hill among the first artists to announce their performances.
Mr Lankester said at least one “biggish” commercial deal would be likely to be announced before this year’s Fringe begins in August.
“We’re working on a couple of deals,” he said. “We’ve taken a slightly different approach to sponsorship in that we working a lot more collaboratively with the venues and when we get deals together, we look for ways of drawing the venues into the deal.
“Hypothetically, if we signed a deal and it was a seven-figure sum, we would make sure a significant tranche of that would find its way into the infrastructure and the ecosystem that delivers the Fringe, which I think has always been a point of contention between the Fringe Society and venues in the past.”
It is believed one of the deals in the pipeline could be with a mobile phone company, which could open up potential for a tie-up to improve coverage in the main festival area - an issue which the Fringe Society has repeatedly raised with Edinburgh City Council. Visitors and performers have regularly reported mobile phone blackouts during past festivals, due to existing network infrastructure not being able to cope with an influx of thousands of extra people.
Mr Lankester said the Fringe Society would act as the broker for any commercial tie-ups - negotiating potential collaborations between sponsors and venues.
He refused to comment on any specific deals.
He said: “Critically, the sponsors are saying to us that they want a single point of entry, they don’t want to go and sign 20 deals. Instead, they sign one deal with us and we will enter into the deals, which is easier for us.”
He added: “The proof of the pudding is when we actually get a deal, but the principles behind it are being welcomed by the venues.
“Every brand, when they’re stepping into a sponsorship, wants something different. One might want a space they can put up their branding. Others might want a space where they can engage with the public and offer them a trial of their product. Each partner would want something different and requires something different from the venues.”
Edinburgh City Council is today (Wednesday) to debate plans for how it could spend its tourist tax. Mr Lankester said that despite the fact the Fringe was not singled out as a special case requiring specific support in papers published ahead of the meeting, he was confident money would be provided to the organisation, which already receives £75,000 in council funds.
He described the initial omission of the Fringe from the council papers as a “missed opportunity”, but said the Fringe Society had been in regular dialogue with council officials.
He said: “When the council gets together and has a conversation and looks at the proposals and consider how the visitor levy is going to be used, I would like to think that festivals are going to be something that they would prioritise, because it stands to reason that the festivals in general are deserving of support, given that collectively, they make a massive contribution.”
It has been estimated that people staying in Edinburgh who are connected to the Fringe could generate up to £6.5m a year for the tax.
He added: “The council has expressed that the Fringe, the festivals in general, have been underfunded over the years, and this is an opportunity to correct that.”
Today’s announcement has seen a total of 350 shows across multiple venues go on sale for this year’s event.
However, Mr Lankester said strong numbers of early on-sale tickets would not necessarily translate into a record-breaking festival this year. Artists and visitors have raised issues about the increasing cost of staying in Edinburgh during the festivals season, especially on day when other major events are taking place in the city, such as this summer’s Bon Jovi concert at Murrayfield Stadium.
“Whether that means we're going to have a bumper Fringe or not, I'm not sure,” he said. “It could mean that artists are seeing more value in getting on sale sooner, so are working harder to get applications in. Or it could be that more of the early applications are coming from those who have established producers and know how the system works.”
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