Lotus UK heads to the lake district for Keswick Mountain Festival

This May a team from Lotus UK travelled to the Lake District town of Keswick to attend Keswick Mountain Festival, representing Visit Andorra and the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Billed as the ultimate outdoors weekend, Keswick Mountain Festival is a three day event with a jam packed programme of outdoor activities, world-class speakers, sporting events and live music, all set in and around the beautiful Crow Park and overlooking Derwentwater. Now in its ninth year, it is the largest yet and is increasingly growing in popularity, attracting a range of exhibitors and sponsors.

The festival attracts over 16,000 “adventurers” of all ages and abilities, looking to immerse themselves in the great outdoors and take part in activities and sporting events. Visitors to the festival are generally health conscious with a focus on keeping fit and enjoying a healthy diet to fuel their active lifestyle. The audience is the ideal target market for Visit Andorra, a truly ‘outdoor’ destination and Alaska Seafood with its recent health focused campaign.

The synergies between Visit Andorra and Keswick Mountain Festival were clear from the outset with Andorra’s active offering. Visitors could learn about the famed triathlon at the Andorra Outdoor Games, hiking around the whole country along the epic ‘Grand Route de Pays’ or trying out new mountain sports such as via ferrata, climbing, canyoning or zip wiring.

Returning for the second consecutive year, Visit Andorra exhibited in the Festival Village with a branded tent and deckchairs, Visit Andorra was also the sponsor of the Friday night ‘Sporting Heroes’ speaker sessions, which featured two ticketed talks – one by the British triathlete and Olympic bronze medallist, Jonny Brownlee, and a second with legendary fell runners Joss Naylor and Steve Birkinshaw.

The arrival of Alaska Seafood in its first year of sponsorship saw the “Mountain Hut” refreshment area rebranded as “Wild Alaska Wigwams”. The wigwams were revamped with folk bands preforming throughout the day and an Alaska fishing themed interior. Competitors in festival sporting events were also presented with a goodie bag which contained an Alaska seafood recipe book, a can of John West wild red salmon and a canned salmon voucher.

Lotus UK worked with a chef to develop a delicious range of canapés showcasing the versatility and appeal of Alaskan pink and red canned salmon with creative, inspired recipes. Samples gave the team the opportunity to engage with consumers and talk about the nutritional benefits of wild Alaskan salmon which is low in fat, high in protein and Omega 3, sustainable, 100% natural and rich in vitamins and minerals. Those who claimed to have previously not enjoyed canned salmon were pleasantly surprised by its flavour and appearance and vowed to give canned Alaska salmon another chance.

Across the weekend, the level of engagement was phenomenal. Many thanks to everyone who came to join us at Keswick!