I have been told that best brand-sponsored cultural events are those which do not have logos brandished on leaflets, walls, ceilings and floors, staff badges, USB sticks and toilet doors. And that the more subtle a partnership and the less intrusive a brand on an event, the better. Orange RockCorps destroys that mistaken belief.
Orange RockCorps gets thousands of volunteers across the UK each year to volunteer for 4 hours. For two summers I cleaned pathways and cut down weeds, bushes and trees in Valentine’s Park, Ilford. Joined by a bunch of enthusiastic volunteers, we got out of bed early on a Saturday morning to make the park pretty. And the reward for our hard work? Tickets to an exclusive gig at the Royal Albert Hall with international superstars NaS, Nelly, Kelly Rowland, John Legend, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes and artists of British origin such as KANO, Lethal Bizzle, Razorlight all playing under one roof!
Last year Busta Rhymes headed the concert and his performance was unforgettable: the fast-paced rap flows, the passion, the adrenaline – everything came together to make it feel like an earthquake had just struck Albert Hall (in a good way).
Drinks and food at the ’09 volunteering days were provided by Suso (Suso also promote their products through in-kind sponsorships of local schools and Street Fest ’09) and Golden Wonder. Sony Ericsson were also involved in the project with their photography competition which runs alongside the volunteer work. Participants take photographs and the best, most creative image won a bag-full of goodies. Sony provided the new phones for the budding-photographers thus exposing their product to the target market and crucially getting people to see, hold and use their phones.
This is a cool, fun and intelligent campaign put on by Orange. The volunteering was actually enjoyable, the gig was incredible and the fact that Orange encourage people to continue volunteering after the show demonstrates their commitment to making the world a better place. Their creativity and imagination made the “logo-ful” project seamless, totally unobtrusive (I for one was not put off by the product-placement and 10-foot branded signs) and forgivable (for the sceptics and cynics out there). That’s why Orange is one of my favourite brands making commerce and culture work together.
