Sunburn 10 created history at Sunburn Hills, Kesnand, on the Pune-Ahmednagar highway, near Pune.
Moving to a brand new home after a 9 year stay in Goa, Sunburn, one of the world’s largest music festivals saw a phenomenal turnout of festival goers in its annual showcase with massive layout, huge stages, state of the art production, best in class SFX and technology with an unparalleled artist line up.
The official ticketing partner for Sunburn, BookMyShow.com reported attendance of fans from all parts of the country while Viagogo.com ensured fans from over 30 countries attended the festival with a large majority coming in from the Middle East, Europe and South East Asia.
Carving its niche as the preferred lifestyle brand of the millennial generation, Sunburn 10 contributed approximately Rs.1.4 crores as direct revenue to the government and generated a business of about Rs.250 crores for the region through hotel, F&B, transport and miscellaneous expenses incurred by the festival goers.
While media reports indicated a decline in the hotel business in Goa in 2016 with a steep drop in hotel rates, the hotel industry in Pune recorded an upswing in both the rates and occupancy.
From a single tea stall on the way to sunburn hills, the road became a busy street with food joints coming up almost everyday everywhere. There was some one selling water, food, soft drinks, biscuits, fruits, and party props everywhere. Every vacant piece of land became a pay and park.
The transport sector benefitted considerably with the festival happening in the region. Both private and public transport saw a huge surge in demand for their services. Ola had designated cabs for the festival that ensured fans were transported to and fro from the festival venue in a seamless manner.
Owning over 90% of the festival IP market, Sunburn 10 that was hosted between the 28th December to 31st December 2016 and saw an investment of close to Rs. 30 crores with the entire event being put together in a span of 45 days by a team of over 3,000 people who worked round the clock to ensure the stature and magnitude of the festival. About 2,500 people helped on-ground to ensure the festival was conducted smoothly over 4 days.
As a part of Sunburn’s CSR initiative, a lot of partnering brands brought forward customized solutions and services for the festival. Eureka Forbes ensured festival-goers had 24×7 free access to drinking water while Renault and Gionee provided free mobile charging stations. At the Ola Select Lounge fans could pre-book their shuttles and cabs to ensure there weren’t any last minute hassles. The shuttles and cabs promoted Don’t drink and Drive policy of the brand. ATMs provided by Yes Bank were placed strategically for the festival goers to always have cash at their disposal. All festival-goers had full internet connectivity with special telecom support provided by Airtel with 2 towers set up in the region which formerly faced zero connectivity.
Bajaj Electricals created an eco-friendly art piece called Tree Of Light which featured energy saving lights mounted on a barren tree painted in sparkling white which encouraged the habit of saving energy in the youth for a better future apart from a beautifully lit up entry tunnels into the festival. The company was also responsible for lighting up the path to Sunburn Hills. The ‘Hollywood inspired’ Sunburn hills lettering placed on the hilltop that welcomed festival goers from a distance as they approached the venue.
A total taskforce of over 5,500 personnel including 1,000 security guards, 50 sniffer dogs and 200 CCTV cameras which gave a live feed to the police control room ensured Sunburn 10 was a safe and drug free event with and emphasized on Sunburn’s zero tolerance policy against banned substances. The event was conducted within the directives as laid down by the Narcotics Control Bureau and CDSCO.
Also as a part of Sunburn’s “leave no trace†policy and norms laid down by the waste pollution board and environment conversation board, all measures were taken to ensure sanitization of the venue and orderly disposal of waste post the event.
Ample security, medical, quick response team, CCTV camera setup, police and Fire hazard precautions helped ensure Sunburn 10 was a zero error and mishap free event.
A new brand extension this year, Sunburn Echo, a live stream event hosted in 5 cities featuring a live emcee, DJs, SFX and the works gave an authentic experience of Sunburn 10. Jaipur, Raipur, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Vizag saw a cumulative attendance of over 20,000 fans at the Sunburn Echo.
The technical team ensured the entire venue was fully equipped with a high speed network connection required for live streaming and security systems to function without any differ in relay. A total of approximately 400 meters of fiber cabling were laid down across the venue with a dedicated 300 MBPS speed of data uplink and downlink. The prowess of Sunburn was also reflective in the seamless LIVE mixing and streaming of the entire event on Facebook. A total of 5 HD broadcast cameras with 40X lenses and a sound craft mixer to record isolated and group tracks from two different stages simultaneously captured every element of the festival in high definitional and relayed live across the world. A live editor ensured the fans viewing the feed didn’t miss any part of the mega extravaganza. Right from the action on-stage to candid moments with the artists and fan reactions, the overall stream was packaged and relayed real-time. The same technology was also used in telecasting the Live feed in all cities that hosted Sunburn echo. The entire setup and execution was manned by 40 skilled professionals who ensured a glitch-free experience.
Airtel also setup a network tower, which offered 4G speed to festival attendees. The CCTV cameras worked on WIFI technology to ensure they couldn’t be vandalized.
The Live stream on Facebook received phenomenal response with a reach of 55 million and 69 million impressions, 8.5 million views. Total live stream was 1052 minutes covering 22 artists. Exponential shares and engagement over the 4 days of the festival.
The phenomenal global popularity of Sunburn since its inception in 2007 has successfully positioned Goa as the destination of choice for entertainment, lifestyle and business on the global tourism map with an influx of domestic and international tourists coming in from all corners of the world during the year end to attend this must-visit leading global EDM fest. With exit of Sunburn from Goa, tourism felt the impact since Sunburn contributed about Rs. 800 crores to Goa state revenue in 2015.
Sunburn 10 is grateful to Maharashtra Tourism for its support and has successfully promoted Kesnand, Pune world wide as hub of millennials accepting of inclusive and world-class events.
There were more than 30 experience zones including food stalls, flea markets, adventure sport offerings, artist village and the biggest camping site at a homegrown festival. The technology, dancers, sound & lighting effects and stage designs were planned keeping in mind the global standards and experience. All the raw material and manpower for the stalls were sourced from the region and contributed to employment and revenues to the state.
Sunburn 10 saw a total of 100+ artists, 300 + hours of explosive music, both onstage and at the pre and post parties at Blue Frog, Miami, House of Medici, Stone Water Grill, Oak Lounge, The Bottle Street, Evviva and F Beach among other venues.
The event saw a sponsor integration of more than 20+ brands with every brand integrating a unique concept – including Renault, Gionee, Kingfisher, Smirnoff, Ola, FBB, Rayban, Sky Bags, Spice Jet, Clear Trip local, Pepsi and other partners such as Red Bull, Woodland, ICICI, Kwality Walls, Dot Shot, ITC among others.
The 300 feet wide and 100 feet high Main Stage, which prides itself on being one of the world’s largest, titled ‘Dance Garden’, drew its core inspiration from the importance of conservation of nature. To inculcate a sense of preservation of the environment in the youth, from lighted creepers to electro pop mammoth daisies to majestic peacocks to the golden cranium of the sun, top of the line DJs took center stage in a grotto crowned by a phoenix officially heralding the 10th year anniversary celebrations of India’s most loved multi-act dance music brand. The stage comprised of 300 moving heads (intelligent lighting), 4500 sq. feet of LED and more than 100 boxes of sound. This was one of the most awe-inspiring stages ever seen globally.
After Spinnin Records Stage debut in 2015, international label Monstercat made its first appearance with its own stage featuring Puppet, Haywyre and Pegboard Nerds while the Rayban Never Hide Sounds Stage, The Soma Project, The Techno Deep House Stage, Vinyl Ambulance and The Gionee Stage played the role of support stages flawlessly.
