Aug. 30, 2009 (Business Wire) -- For four years the Virgin Mobile Festival has been one of the country’s premier summer music events. And while the bands and venues have changed over the years, one thing that has not is Kyocera’s presence as the festival’s premier sponsor. Kyocera reprises its premier sponsorship on August 30 when bands including Weezer, Blink-182, Taking Back Sunday, Franz Ferdinand and Public Enemy headline the fourth-annual Virgin Mobile Festival at Maryland’s Merriweather Post Pavilion. Looking to give music fans a break from today’s challenging economy, Virgin Mobile USA dubbed this year’s event “FreeFest” and made all tickets free. This year's Virgin Mobile FreeFest is highlighting The RE*Generation, Virgin Mobile USA’s special program aimed at helping this country’s millions of homeless kids and asking festival goers to give back to this cause.*
Kyocera's sponsorship is multi-faceted, with extensive on-site presence at the festival complemented by nationwide programs aimed at empowering music-loving consumers. At the festival, Kyocera will provide a “Lucky Layoff Lounge” and a “Recharge Station,” while featuring extensive signage and interactive elements such as a large display to which attendees can send text messages. For fans across the country, Kyocera presented Virgin Mobile’s "Book the Band" competition, allowing fans to choose an opening act at FreeFest, and “Kyocera ALL Access,” in which 14 aspiring filmmakers were selected to capture the event for behind-the-scenes documentary that will air on the Independent Film Channel (IFC) in October.
“We’re thrilled to continue our longstanding partnership with Virgin Mobile and once again show our support of this amazing music festival,” said Tom Maguire, head of global marketing at Kyocera Communications Inc. “Between this year’s impressive lineup of artists, these great programs we’re doing surrounding the event and the support it will generate for homeless youth, this will certainly be an event to remember.”
Kyocera’s activities leading up to and at FreeFest include:
Kyocera Lucky Layoff Lounge – With unemployment hovering at double-digits, the Lucky Layoff Lounge brings a little karma, good luck and good times to fans. Every 10 minutes a lucky attendee will be chosen to spin the “Wheel of Free!” for a chance at prizes including a free mobile phone with one year of service, Kyocera X-tc M2000 phones from Virgin Mobile, Ikea furnishings, Flying V guitars, backstage tours and more. Numerous other games include the Virgin Free Rock Quiz, where players will use Kyocera X-tc M2000 phones to answer questions and win prizes. A Kyocera Karma Kanister will be in the lounge for anyone who’d like to support Virgin Mobile’s The RE*Generation campaign to support homeless youth.
Kyocera Recharge – Kyocera’s Recharge Area gives festival-goers the chance to recharge their souls as well as their gadgets.
