MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – JULY 2009: Sennheiser made its presence known to attendees and performers alike at the eleven-day Summerfest – the world’s largest music festival – with the launch of the summer-long Sennheiser Sound Tour and a backstage Sennheiser Artist Lounge. Sennheiser’s young Sound Tour ambassadors engaged with concertgoers to spread the word about the premium sound of Sennheiser headphones and headsets, while Tim Moore, Sennheiser’s artist relations manager, offered Summerfest performers a welcoming place to hang out and relax in a tour bus behind the scenes.
Milwaukee’s Summerfest, established in 1968 and traditionally held annually from late June through early July, attracts up to one million people to see seven hundred bands perform on eleven stages at the Henry Maier Festival Park on the lakefront. The event provided an ideal location to kickoff the Sennheiser Sound Tour, where the twelve-strong team of mostly “twenty-somethings” – including a pro surfer, a pro gamer, an emerging country artist, two drummers, and an actor – took on the challenge of putting Sennheiser headphone products on as many heads as possible. Positioned at demo pods in Sennheiser branded tents or vehicles around the festival park, or wearing unique sound belt portable test stations, the team was able to engage with thousands of people during the festival.
Summerfest was the first stop in what will be a three-month, countrywide effort to introduce music lovers and gamers to Sennheiser headphones and gaming headsets. Divided into a Girls Team and a Guys Team, the Sennheiser Sound Tour is also a battle of the sexes that presents a series of challenges that will be documented in weekly webisodes on a dedicated website (www.sennheisersoundtour.com).
Noted Stefanie Reichert, Sennheiser’s vice president of strategic marketing, “At Summerfest, we executed our new ‘discover, try and buy’ strategy which works beautifully for both the consumer and pro markets. We were able to introduce festival-goers to Sennheiser gear for the first time while interacting with artists and engineers in the Tour Bus. It truly was the best of both worlds.”
Backstage, Tim Moore set up an “Artist Relations Lounge” in a tour bus and invited performers and their engineers into its air-conditioned interior for some food and drink, to access the internet, play a game or two at the Sennheiser gaming station, listen to music with Sennheiser headphones or watch TV. The artists could also check out Sennheiser’s popular live sound products, including 900 Series wired microphones, evolution wireless G3 equipment and the recently introduced 2000 Series.
“This was our first time trying this concept and it worked. Our goal was to give up-and-coming artists some of the amenities granted mostly to established stars. And why not? I believe it’s important to forge these early relationships with future stars of the music industry. However, as it turned out, many of the headliners from Marcus Amphitheater came over to hang out, too. So, we had all the bases covered,” concluded Moore.
ABOUT SENNHEISER ELECTRONIC CORPORATION Sennheiser is a world-leading manufacturer of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. Established in 1945 in Wedemark, Germany, Sennheiser is now a global brand represented in 60 countries around the world with U.S. headquarters in Old Lyme, Connecticut. Sennheiser’s pioneering excellence in technology has rewarded the company with numerous awards and accolades including an Emmy, a Grammy, and the Scientific and Engineering Award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
PHOTO CAPTIONS PHOTO ONE Sennheiser launched the summer-long Sound Tour at Summerfest made up of two teams of six girls and six guys. To keep up with the antics, visit their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sennheiser-Sound-Tour/68372284276?ref=s or the dedicated website supporting the tour: http://www.sennheisersoundtour.com/ PHOTO TWO Sennheiser’s Sound Tour team roamed through the Summerfest crowds encouraging festival goers to try Sennheiser headsets via their unique sound belts or through pods set up in the Sennheiser tents. PHOTO THREE Sennheiser launched the summer-long Sound Tour at Summerfest made up of two teams of six girls and six guys. To keep up with the antics, visit their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sennheiser-Sound-Tour/68372284276?ref=s or the dedicated website supporting the tour: http://www.sennheisersoundtour.com/
At Summerfest, Sennheiser’s Artist Relations Manager, Tim Moore manned the Sennheiser “Artist Relations Lounge” that was set up in an air-conditioned, amenities-laden, tour bus for emerging and established engineers and artists.
For more information, please visit www.sennheiserusa.com
