Stakeholder Influences on the Ownership and Management of Festival Brands

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how brand ownership in a multi‐stakeholder environment influences festival branding. Through 14 case studies, it was revealed that many festivals co‐brand through incorporation of city, geographical or sponsor names in the festival name. In Sweden, stakeholder involvement in the branding process was uniformly low, while in the Calgary festivals in Canada it ranged from low to high. As well, ownership of the brand was controlled singly by the Swedish festival organizations, while in Calgary most brands were diffusely owned through sponsors' involvement. Areas for further research on festival branding are suggested, including the need to further explore brand ownership and control within a stakeholder context.