O2 to sponsor Wireless Festival in Hyde Park for second year running

O2 has underlined its commitment to live music by renewing its sponsorship of the Wireless Festival. It will use the event to continue its focus on customer retention.

The inaugural Wireless Festival was held in Hyde Park last year, but this year will see a second event take place in Leeds.

The mobile phone giant, which began a customer loyalty drive last year following the promotion of marketing director Cath Keers to the new role of customer director, will offer its customers special privileges and interactive content throughout the four-day festival, which takes place in June.

O2 says its sponsorship of the event also reflects an enhanced commitment to music at grassroots level. The company has teamed up with Sony BMG to market The Upper Room via the mobile community. The band will play on the O2 stage at the Wireless Festival.

O2 head of sponsorship Paul Samuels says: “Music is an increasingly important part of our sponsorship strategy. We wanted to create a festival we could own rather than just brand another music event and we want to make this year’s festivals bigger and better than last year.”

The Wireless Festival, which this year will offer mobile ticketing, is organised by Live Nation.