Sponsor Hay Festival

    From individual event sponsorship to global strategic partnership, there are many interesting opportunities to reach the festival’s remarkable audiences.

    Hay Festival open-sided tent in the evening

    "Hay Festival is a wonder. As a sponsorship opportunity delivers on all fronts: engaged audiences, cultural relevance, and a reach far beyond its green fields" – Maurice Saatchi

    “Hay is a crucible for progressive thinking and action. This is a fascinating, opinion-shaping event and audience, that I look forward to every year.” – Juliet Davenport, CEO, Good Energy – Venue & Series Partners

    We work with our partners to tailor and profile each sponsorship in the most effective ways, and to communicate the intent and impact of the relationships through branding, media campaign and client management at Hay.

    We treasure our sponsors and have won an unprecedented number of awards from Arts & Business over the last 30 years.

    2019 Figures

    • 11 days
    • 800+ events
    • 278,000 tickets sold with attendees from over 40 countries
    • 28,000 GDPR compliant subscribers
    • 100,000 print programmes distributed
    • 300+ accredited media
    • £25.38M economic impact on the local economy (QRS Survey 2018)
    • 662,000 web visitors annually – the top ten by country are: UK, Colombia, USA, Mexico, Spain, Peru, India, Denmark, Germany, Canada

    “We think that Hay is one of the UK’s great cultural institutions.” – David Landsman, Executive Director, Tata Group – Global Education Partners

    Reasons to sponsor Hay Festival

    • Brand association with festival at forefront of thought leadership
    • Uniqueness of the Hay experience
    • Share the Festival’s powerful vision of freedom of speech and the sharing of ideas
    • Reach the 100,000+ typically affluent yet time-poor audiences, in a unique leisurely festival atmosphere
    • Inclusion in on-and-offline marketing communications
    • Profile in the festival programme, tickets, website and social media
    • Access to artists’ restaurant and client hospitality opportunities
    • Product sampling, subscriber recruitment and promotional campaigns provide
    • Excellent ROI

    Benefits

    • Opportunity to join festival digital and direct mailings
    • On screen advertising to festival audiences
    • Sampling opportunities
    • Major sponsors benefit from on site branding
    • Credit in the festival programme, on tickets and online
    • Hospitality and complimentary tickets for guests
    • Access to limited number of exhibition spaces

    “We see a strong similarity between those who attend literary festivals and those who invest in investment trusts such as the ones we manage.” – Michelle McLeod, Baillie Gifford – Venue Sponsor

    Sponsorship Opportunities

    Event and Series Sponsor

    Sponsors and partners work closely with the festival team to select, from the festival programme, speakers who fit well with a sponsors brand values. e.g. Nobel Series, British Council Series, Baillie Gifford International Writers Series, Woodland Trust Series.

    Project Sponsor

    Work with the festival to develop projects for specific audiences or subject areas.

    • Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) - Trans.MISSION
    • Tata - Hay Levels
    • The Pool - #VOTE100BOOKS
    • H&M Conscious - Just Fashion Project
    • NFU Mutual - Royal Drawing School Project

    Venue Sponsorship

    Venue sponsorship gives very high brand awareness and integration through programme listings, on site branding, ticketing and maps: e.g. Tata Tent, Baillie Gifford Stage, Good Energy Stage, Starlight Stage, Friends Café, Festival Bar, Food Hall, The Summer House, Compass. 

    Advertising

    PRINT PROGRAMME

    Full page £3,500 + VAT
    Half page £1,750 + VAT
    Quarter page £875 + VAT

    ONLINE ADVERTISING

    Banner adverts positioned on high traffic pages of the website. 30 day campaign £1,000 + VAT

    Hayfestival.org web traffic reaches over 0.5 Million globally top ten countries: UK, Colombia, USA, Mexico, Spain, Peru, India, Denmark, Germany, Canada

    ON SCREEN ADVERTISING IN VENUES

    Reach the festival audiences in their seats with on screen advertising in performance venues. Price on application.

    Exhibition Spaces

    A limited number of individual marquee units start from w3m x d6m and cost £6,500 + vat for the full eleven day duration of the festival. Other bespoke spaces are also available.

    Previous exhibitors:

    SAMPLING
    Bonne Maman, Tetley Tea, Hannibal Brown Wines, Highland Park, Fullers, Alpro Soya, Google, Eat Natural, Davidstow.

    PROMOTION, SALES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
    Serious Readers, The TLS, International New York Times, Woodland Trust, Prospect Magazine, Greenpeace AGA, iBooks, Good Energy, London Library, National Trust.

    For more information on becoming a sponsor please contact adrian@hayfestival.org or ruth@hayfestival.org.