Exploring branding associations in festival branding

Abstract

Arts festivals in South Africa are growing tremendously and it has become more important for these types of tourism products to position themselves competitively. Branding plays a major role in positioning and the associations made with the brand. It is necessary to understand these associations as well as factors influencing the associations. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to explore brand associations in festival branding and to determine the influence of demographic characteristics on festival associations. Very little research in this regard has been conducted in South Africa. This study was done at the KKNK (Klein Karoo National Arts Festival) held annually in Oudtshoorn, by means of a structured questionnaire where 394 questionnaires were completed. The statistical analysis was descriptive in nature, including a factor analysis (to determine the brand associations) and the calculation of effect sizes (to determine differences between the brand associations and certain demographic variables). Firstly, the results revealed three brand associations, namely brand judgements, brand attributes and brand performance. Secondly, the results indicated no significant differences between age, gender, marital status, province, qualification, number of times visited and the identified brand associations. The results therefore confirm that brand associations exist but that demographic characteristics do not influence these associations.