As the new headline sponsor of both renowned festivals, Barclaycard had the opportunity to elevate their onsite and digital presence with brand activations above and beyond what had previously been delivered as an official payment partner.

The brief was to drive awareness of Barclaycard’s entertainment offering and customer engagement through the brand’s Amp it up campaign, which launched in 2022, a platform rooted in celebrating the moments of anticipation that surround live music and elevating the experience onsite through customer rewards. The target was a broad audience of 30 – 54 year olds, family focussed with a medium to high income, as well as festival goers.

Objectives:

- Drive awareness and brand relevancy of the Barclaycard brand

- Drive a connection to headline festivals through Barclaycard’s entertainment offering

Barclaycard Amp’d up Latitude and Isle of Wight Festival by dialling up the anticipation for live music moments through surprise and delight secret sets, star studded performances and customer perks, making all the moments in-between as memorable as the main event.

Amp it up was activated onsite through two core experiential activations - the Barclaycard Amp Stage and the Barclaycard Lookout.

The Barclaycard Amp Stage became a destination in its own right. A totally brand owned/delivered stage that became part of the festival programming; home to surprise warm up sets from the line up throughout the festival weekend. Sets were teased through digital clues to drive talkability and FOMO before being announced by artists themselves.

The Barclaycard Lookout was the ultimate onsite perk for Barclaycard customers. A viewing platform located squarely in front of the main stage, offering the very best views to Amp up the experience for customers.

Amp it up celebrates the moments of anticipation that surround live music and provides customers with elevated experiences through perks.

‘Anticipation’ was identified as an ownable territory within live music for Barclaycard to occupy, with the brand playing a genuine role in this space, from when you purchase your presale ticket, to making festival-ready purchases. It’s a territory unoccupied by other brands/competitors, who focus on the pinnacle ‘live’ moments of music. It was leveraged experientially by getting people Amp’d up for what was to come later during the festival, effectively meeting the objective of driving awareness and connection with headline festivals.

The Amp it up campaign also created the 'realisation-of-missing-out' for non-customers who were not able to enjoy the elevated customer experiences – including discounts and access to the Barclaycard Lookout. Serving the objectives of driving awareness of perks and customer engagement.

Tapping into the anticipation of waiting for your favourite act, the Barclaycard Amp Stage became known for getting fans and artists warmed up through surprise sets before the artists’ main billing.

18 performances across seven festival days were teased through 50+ clues on socials, festival apps and QR codes. Getting people guessing and feeling the very real fear of missing out on the performances.

Sets from festival legends and emerging acts were unmissable beyond the festival fields, with artists, Barclaycard and festivals posting highlights. While in a Latitude first, performances were livestreamed on Tiktok and to the immersive Outernet London. Taking the magic of the Amp Stage to the masses.

On the other side of the festival field the Barclaycard Lookout was a beacon of what it means to be a customer, offering exclusive prime views of the main stage, while onsite perks rewarded customers with 10% off F&B.

Growing Barclaycard’s association with live music/festivals:

- Social clues drove up to 29% engagement rate, driving talkability about the Amp Stage

- 10K+ enjoyed Amp Stage performances with crowds amassing in anticipation of the secret warm up sets

Driving awareness and relevancy of Barclaycard:

- Amplified the Amp Stage via the livestream to 89K on Tiktok and 17K at Outernet

- Hit 9M reach on brand socials and 24.5M via festival channels

- Cut through in mass media with 159 pieces of coverage; securing 108M reach and £2.8M earned media value

Driving customer engagement:

- Rewarded 4K+ customers with the best view from the Barclaycard Lookout

- 32% YOY increase on perk redemption across all partner festivals (from £258K in 2022 across 14 festivals to £341K in 2023 across eight). Illustrating sustained growth despite fewer partner events, through increased awareness of the partnership and perks