Dépanneur Sprint reinforces community engagement through music festival
Dépanneur Sprint, the 100% Quebec-owned convenience store brand, is sponsoring of Saguenay's largest summer events.
Jonquière en Musique (JEM) is back for its 37th year, and the convenience store chain is sponsoring of Saguenay's largest summer events.
The partnership grew to include naming and hosting rights for major programming landmarks, notably presenting the "JEM Tailgate" party alongside the Ville de Saguenay. Dépanneur Sprint's partnership aligns with the company's mission to support the local economy and the culture, making cultural events more than an advertising ploy: It is a corporate strategy that creates brand recognition through experiential marketing.
Creating increased brand visibility through music fans
The Quebec chain of convenience stores did not simply slap their logos on to banners; the company built an activation strategy by setting up an on-site, fully operational mini-convenience store kiosk to directly handle festival attendees' late-night cravings.
The music festival partnership grew to include naming and hosting rights for major programming landmarks, notably presenting the closing event alongside the city. The festival organizers stated in a TVA news interview that managing a major free festival required aggressive fundraising; Jonquiere en Musique makes around 300 sponsorship requests annually. Corporate partners like Sprint are crucial financial pillars that allow the festival to keep concerts entirely free for the public. The festivals runs from July 1 to July 11.
Dépanneur Sprint is owned by the Groupe F. Dufresne, a family-owned company that started in 1950. The Sprint convenience store network currently has over 120 convenience stores across Quebec, including 30 stores in the Capitale-Nationale region. The chain offers fuel under different banners, including Petro-Canada and supports loyalty programs such as Petro-points, their proprietary loyalty program Miliplein and EV Circuit Électrique accross their Quebec network. Sprint convenience stores launched in the Quebec market in 2017.
