Funny Ha Ha...

As Bonnaroo brand traditions go, there aren't many that have as storied a past and strong association as The Comedy Central Comedy Tent.

This year, Butterfinger took over the comedy tent hosting duties, and did a pretty kick ass job, in my opinion.

One of my few criticisms would be the lack of directional signage outside of the tent. Hundreds of people waited in the wrong line outside of the Sweet Humor tent. Some were there for the multi showings of Triumph the comic insult dog, others were there to get tickets to see Jimmy Fallon later in the day.

The Fallon show sold out (tickets were free, just had to pick them up) quickly and Triumph had a steady and excited audience all weekend long.

The buzz about the Sweet Humor tent was audible all over the Roo, from people talking about the ice cream with Butterfinger topping, the Fallon show selling out (which often spawned another conversation about whether or not Jimmy Fallon was physically painful to watch), John Oliver from the Daily Show (pictured above), and Triumph raging on other brand sponsors in funny and relevant ways- even taking a stab at his host, Butterfinger.

I talked about how well Stanley had multiple points of contact, but as I've gone through my pics, I realized that Butterfinger had a good variety of touch points as well.

One of the most dangerous byproducts of giving out free samples, is the possible wrapper explosion that could litter the entire grounds all weekend long. A cool effort to capture some of the Butterfinger trash before it made its way out of the Sweet Humor Comedy Tent.

Triumph shot some live action stuff around the festival grounds- he got lots of attention wherever he went.

Water Water Everywhere

I was really excited to see how the Stanley use less bottled water project would turn out.

Stanley sold Bonnaroo limited edition aluminum water bottles, in an effort to lessen the impact of plastic bottles from the festival.

The aluminum bottles cost $22 and free water was provided for all concert goers.

Stanley made a modest effort to let people know about the program ahead of time, so they didn't bring dozens of plastic bottles. When I purchased my ticket, the aluminum bottle was an optional add on. After spending $285 for a ticket (including fee from Ticket Master), I wasn't in a $22 bottle buying mood.

One of the really cool things they did was to keep a tally of how many plastic bottles they were saving. With every aluminum bottle sold, this number inched up by 24.The assumed number of plastic bottles saved is based on 6 plastic bottles per person, per day-but I would say I had at least the equivalent of 8-10 plastic bottles a day, so big ups to Stanley and Spitfire for not gouging when others would have.

One of the things they did really well was staying on message. Through 3 satellite tents, and 4 branded water filling stations, Stanely and Spitfire were able to up their impressions dramatically, over other brands who had just one point of contact throughout the weekend.

Overall, it seems like the venture was a well intentioned step in the right direction. Based on the growing number to the right, they sold at least 5,000 or so. That's 5,000 limited edition conversation starters floating around the country in the hands of do-gooders everywhere. Now, if they could only remember to mention the aluminum bottles brand name...

There was some problem with the water from the stations being dirty, but I'm inclined to pin that on Bonnaroo infrastructure more than Stanley, but I think a negative association could have been made with Stanley and the dirty water fill stations.

Don't sell me stuff, cell me stuff...

It’s been said (by Keith Reinhardt, among others) that there are digital natives and digital immigrants. Those of us born into the digital world and those of us who have had to immigrate and learn to use the digital space.

At 29, I think I’m right on the edge of that line. When I first started seeing shows, cell phones were not nearly as obtainable as they are now. So, we would have a physical meeting place if we got separated- by the beer cart or near the porta johns.
Smart and well placed tag outside of the Fuse phone charging station, where a line persisted all weekend. I had to ask these chicks to move to take the pic. They were put out.

It’s always been easy to lose people in the crowd, but texting has made reconnecting easier than ever. A group can quickly become separated amongst the throngs of people, but communicate via text and be back together within minutes.

The concern is no longer getting separated from your group, but losing your phone or having your battery die. How can phone companies step up their game to help people with their phones? Because they sure as shit didn't do anything this year. Waiting in line for 45 minutes to charge your phone for 30 minutes?

I wish Staples had a tree with hundreds of hooked up power strips running out of it. And big "Easy Button" bean bags to sit in while you're waiting.

There is lots of room for improvement next year brands and I hope you are starting to realize how important our cell phones are to maintaining control and stability in our festival lives...

Not their first roo-deo...

Xbox has clearly been to Bonnaroo before, and they continued to improve on past years set ups.

Whether its pouring rain or sweltering hot, head cover is a hot commodity at the Roo. Xbox provided tons of head cover, lots of open seating with massive fans, dozens of gaming stations, and thousands of Xbox ponchos.

The ponchos were clutch on Thursday as it poured rain all afternoon and late in the evening. Your space was a lifesaver for lots overheated folks.

In the evening, the arcade turned disco and provided a pulsing crowd with high energy music and lots of fans. Interestingly, they had lots of Fatboy cushions and furniture around their booth. Although Fatboy was listed as a Bonnaroo Partner, I didn't see them anywhere but here in the xbox tent.
I don't think this is Fatboy, but just before the Phish show Sunday night, a set of xbox or Garnier furniture made it to the main stage. I don't know if these dudes ganked it or it was given with permission, but a pretty funny scene in a sea of people with shitty folding chairs or no chairs at all.

What you got in that bag?

I was surprised to see Jansport at Bonnaroo, because I hadn't heard any mention of them as a sponsor.

I felt like they really nailed a lot of the aspects of good branding at the Broo- hands on, creative, tag worthy, and relevant.

Jansport has a series of bags made out of recycled parts of old or imperfect Jansport bags and some industrial scraps of material.

At Bonnaroo, they asked fans to share their art on a huge canvas. Whatever they wanted to do- a band logo, a scene, a design- anything, go nuts, and Jansport will use the material in their next line of recycled bags. They even talked about possibly offering the 2009 Bonnaroo bags as a special edition at Bonnaroo 2010- talk about closing the loop, that would be a really cool life cycle for this project. Fans who painted on the community canvas mural could also log onto the Jansport Art site and tag their art work, in addition to having a direct link to Facebook so users could upload and tag a pic of their work there as well.

Overall, a really cool effort and relevant as all get out. If you went to Bonnaroo this weekend- how much did you rely on your backpack?

I know the folks at Jansport and Creature pulled this entire thing together really quickly, but I think it was one of the coolest branding projects on site!

More reviews coming up over the next few days. Please bookmark us and check back soon.

Amazing time had by most!

Bonnaroo was a great time this year! We got hundreds of pictures, spoke with dozens of brands large and small, saw dozens of bands, and have tons of notes to share. Above, Bruce Springsteen plays "Glory Days" with Phish on Sunday evening. What a great way to end the weekend.

I'll be uploading new posts for the next several days so please check back.

Look for reviews on Clean vibes, Hooked productions, Butterfinger, Jansport, State Farm, Vitamin Water, Budweiser, Whole Foods, Playback clothing, Garnier Fructis, Fuse, Stanley, Bungaloo, Bonnaroo, Odwalla, and many more.

Final day at Broo...

Look for live updates throughout the day from Centeroo and around the grounds...

Born to run...

The Boss destroys the Roo