LONDON (VIP NEWS) — Jack Daniel’s has launched a year-long initiative supporting some of the UK’s independent small venues.
The Tennessee Whiskey brand will team up with an array of venues across the country including Glasgow King Tut’s, the Liverpool Zanzibar and the Birmingham Rainbow to host regular events featuring up and coming talent as well as established acts.
Drinks promotions at the gigs, promotion of the events on Jack Daniel`s social media channels as well as having selected gigs filmed and audio live recorded are all part of the campaign.
The first night takes place on Saturday, January 24 at Southampton’s Joiners Arms, a live music venue since 1968. Local act The Rising will headline with The Novatones and The Affected Four supporting. On March 17, indietronica act Is Tropical will perform at the newly-opened 200-capacity Brighton Joker.
The independent venue initiative is the latest in Jack Daniel’s Jack Rocks series of event partnerships that launched last year. It`s part of the brand`s plans to support “grass roots level” talent after increasing its marketing spend on music by 25% from 2013.
Investment in the music industry now represents 30% of the whiskey brand’s total spend on marketing and this year is the third time it’s up-weighted its music budgets.
Jack Daniel’s senior brand manager, Michael Boaler, commented: “Independent venues such as the Southampton Joiners and the Brighton Joker are essential to every new band’s development, playing the small venue circuit is how you learn your trade. From a fan’s point of view it’s about those real memorable moments, discovering ‘that band’ playing to a handful of people before going on to headline Glastonbury years later.
"That’s why we think it’s important to support and put a spotlight on these places by creating an initiative dedicated to smaller, independent live music venues as part of our music plan – we really hope that our Jack Rocks nights help the venues to continue the great work they’re doing whilst discovering some top notch new bands along the way.”
