By Matt Kamer, BCH partner and frequent festival-goer
Let’s talk about this rebrand (or not?) of Bourbon & Beyond.
This week, just six weeks from the 2026 edition of the acclaimed festival, somebody apparently took a Sharpie to “Bourbon.”
Some, not all, of the festival’s branding suddenly switched to “& Beyond” – executed in a way that essentially crossed out the word “Bourbon” in the logo that has become associated with the anticipated music festival. The festival’s social media responses indicate it’s to provide a broader platform, and that bourbon’s not going away as part of the event.
I get it, but the rollout has me scratching my head. Let’s take a look.
BRAND… let’s face it, the full name was a little cheesy to begin with. But at least it was ownable. At least it had a story, in a sea of festivals and events that all offer entertainment, food and drinks.
In this case, the word “bourbon” was a positioning device, a geographic locator, a sponsor proposition and a reason for community/government investment. And last year 200,000 people showed up for it.
MARKETING… six weeks out from this year’s festival? Really? Imagine if it was mid-March and the Kentucky Derby said “Derby” was limiting and was rebranding to “Kentucky Horse Racing.”
OWNED MEDIA… the festival has only changed its branding and messaging on certain parts of its owned media assets. As of this posting, the Facebook profile is Bourbon & Beyond, while some graphics on that platform use the strike-through logo. On Instagram, they’ve changed their handle and profile to “& Beyond” all the way. Young folks on Insta, ya know.
The website domain is still bourbonandbeyond.com, but the graphics are Bourbon & Beyond. And, by the way, the website domain for &Beyond.com as well as AndBeyond.com lead to an exotic travel agency. Go figure.
PR… Good luck explaining to the bourbon brands, public partners and Kentucky stakeholders why bourbon suddenly got the Sharpie treatment.
Bourbon brands have paid substantial sponsorship fees to showcase their product with this festival, with this audience, and with this cultural equity. Then there’s state and local government who, out of interest in economic development and promoting Kentucky’s signature spirit to the world – especially during a challenging time for the industry – go above and beyond in supporting this festival with a sweetheart lease of space at the fairgrounds, security, traffic control, added promotion and more. If I’m one of those entities, I have some questions.
Maybe there’s a brilliant strategy behind the strikethrough. Or maybe there’s a story not yet told. But if the goal is to broaden the brand, why would you cross out the thing that made the brand a brand in the first place?
You don’t have to choose between “Bourbon” and “Beyond.” Maybe the whole point is you can do both.
What do you think?
#KeepBourbonInTheBeyond
