I would walk 500 miles

Blisters on the run

Sony Ericsson, edc by Esprit, and Dell sponsored the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards in Liverpool last Thursday. As part of its sponsorship Sony Ericsson started a search back in August for the biggest music fans on earth to walk from London to Liverpool to the awards show.

“100 real music fans, 9 days of music, 400KM of adventure,” ran the campaigns tag line. In excess of 3500 music fans from all over Europe applied online to be part of the biggest FanWalk in music history. A final 100 were selected based on creativity, talent and fan votes.

The walkers were equipped with a Sony Ericsson Walkman phone, clothing by edc, various walking accessories plus an MTV EMA 2008 event and after party ticket. One lucky fan also presented an award at the event.

So what?: Walking brings to mind ramblers, trousers tucked into socks, compass in hand, demanding to hike across Madonna’s country estate – hardly the epitome of rock n’ roll. However this isn’t so much about walking as it is about creating offline communities, getting music fans together to do something that, well, isn’t solely and directly about music. Orange Rock Corps’ community work scheme was a similar effort. What this proves is there is room to do wider reaching events with music not necessarily at the centre of the activity, yet still firmly rooted in its ethos. Plus, with digital dominating music there is a consumer desire to get real and actually do something without a computer mouse attached.

“I love almost everything about this idea. I love the spirit. I love the emphasis on real people. I love the ambition. I love the hoodies. I just wonder whether they could have done something more rock n’roll than, well, walking.”
Ant Swede, Creative Planner, FRUKT

www.fanwalk.tv