Meet the BRITs 2016 team

Putting on a show of the size and scale of The BRIT Awards is a huge undertaking – each year there are hundreds of people behind the scenes who all play a vital role in making it work. The BRIT Awards 2016 with MasterCard can today (23 November) confirm the team behind the event - the key partners, organisations and companies who contribute to making the show bigger and better year on year.

MasterCard partnership enters 18th year

MasterCard will be entering their 18th year as headline sponsor of The BRIT Awards in 2016.

Shaun Springer, Head of Brand, Sponsorship, Digital & Music Marketing at MasterCard:

“Over the last 18 years of our BRIT Awards sponsorship, MasterCard has brought cardholders closer to their favourite music artists. This year we want to take this a step further, enabling fans to connect with music but also to share their experiences with the people that matter to them.  From artists to fans, our history of music sponsorship with the BRIT Awards has told us that music is increasingly infectious, energetic and inherently social.  Cardholders can look forward to chances to walk the red carpet with the stars, enjoy backstage tours with their friends and have exclusive opportunities to conduct interviews with music artists.”

Shaun continued: “As the BRIT Awards take on an increasingly global following, we are always looking for ways to make the event more accessible to those who aren’t attending on the night.  So wherever fans are we will bring them more Priceless experiences both digitally and socially and we look forward to engaging more with music fans in the lead up to the big night!”

ITV return as exclusive broadcast partner

The BRIT Awards will continue their long-term partnership with ITV, with 2016 marking 24 years as exclusive broadcast partner. ITV will dedicate four hours to the show on the night of 24th February across ITV and ITV2, in addition to promotion across its digital platforms.

Elaine Bedell ITV's Director of Entertainment and Comedy: "The BRITs is the music awards ceremony of the year and we're delighted to be exclusive broadcasters once again."

BRITs Digital Committee appoint Warner Music VP Digital Emmy Lovell as Chair

The BRITs Digital Committee 2016 plans to take forward all the incredible work that has been done over the past couple of years, really placing digital at the heart of the awards. 2016 is about giving the fans unprecedented access to their favourite artists and making them feel part of the show from start to finish through digital initiatives. There will be a bigger and broader opportunity to vote live in the show, access to artists directly from their seats, quirky unlockable camera angles and a chance to be part of the red carpet.  The BRITs Digital Committee has wildly ambitious digital plans to make The BRIT Awards 2016 the most digitally integrated award show in the world.

Emmy Lovell: I’m incredibly proud to be chairing a brilliant committee and take forward what we have built on in previous years. As a massive fan of The BRITs, what we hope to roll out is exactly what I’d be excited by.”

Somethin’ Else appointed to handle digital strategy and content for show

Content agency Somethin’ Else have been appointed by The BRIT Awards 2016 to handle digital strategy and content for this year’s event. Across a six month period, Somethin’ Else will extend the global reach of the BRITs brand and grow its digital audience across key social platforms. This is the third successive year that Somethin’ Else have been engaged to provide content strategy and production for The BRIT Awards; having added over 1 million followers in the last two campaigns and broken consecutive Twitter records for the most-Tweeted about (non sport) show ever. In 2016, the focus for the agency is enhancing the live experience the BRITs fanbase, culminating in an event night full of digital exclusives on platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat.

Ian Sharpe, Managing Partner at Somethin’ Else: "As an award-winning content agency we’re delighted to be able to develop and evolve our digital strategy for The BRIT Awards once again in 2016. We’re looking forward to matching our record-breaking successes of previous years with an ambitious ‘live’ strategy designed to maximise the impact and reach of The BRIT Awards across the globe.”

InCyan appointed to build and host the website

Web development company InCyan have been appointed by the BRIT Awards 2016 to develop and host the website for a fourth successive year. InCyan also develop the BRITs Voting Academy portal via which Academy members vote to determine who will pick up a BRIT Award.

Warner Music to release BRIT Awards album 2016

Warner Music will be once again releasing the official BRIT Awards album, featuring the very best tracks of the year and reflecting the breadth of British and international musical talent from the previous twelve months. The 2015 compilation, a triple CD set celebrating past, present and future music hits achieved gold status.

Warner Music’s Andy Tribe: “We were delighted at the gold selling success of the 2015 album and we look forward to continuing our relationship with The BRITs and to even greater success with the 2016 album.”

BBC Worldwide continues international broadcast distribution

BBC Worldwide is the international distributor for The BRIT Awards, working with major TV channels to help the show reach a global audience.  BBC Worldwide has been proudly distributing the TV broadcast rights for The BRITs since 2012, each year licencing the show to over 20 broadcasters, covering over 100 territories around the world.

Frontera signs up for 2016

Chilean wine brand Frontera, the number one selling Chilean wine range in the world, will be the official Wine Partner of The BRIT Awards 2016. Under a brand new partnership with Frontera’s parent company Concha y Toro, a wide range of above the line, customer marketing and pouring opportunities will be included in the agreement.

Clare Griffiths, Commercial Director for Concha y Toro UK: “We are thrilled to be partnering with The BRITs. Frontera’s positioning as the ‘wine brand that invites you in’, makes it a perfect fit for this platform for celebrating and promoting musical talent. This partnership will help us to attract the younger adult market into the wine category, something which is critical for a mature and static market.

Experience has shown us that partnerships can have a major role to play in developing brand recognition and penetration, increased distribution and ultimately sales for our wine brands. We’ll be working with our key customers to communicate the sponsorship, build the brand and drive category sales through in store and online activity. We look forward to a long relationship with plenty of exciting things to come.”

Payne and Gunter in collaboration with Levy Restaurants UK as official Awards caterers

Payne and Gunter will provide the catering for the 12th consecutive year.

Bethan James, Operations Director Payne and Gunter:

“No year is ever the same and the team keeps us on our toes each year to over achieve the ideas presented that have come before, from ‘bringing the outside in’ to encompassing ‘Valentine’s Day’ we accept each year’s challenge, which tend to stem from the design of the Award, on its own merit and start afresh with new concepts and designs each time. More than 50 highly skilled chefs will work over 2300 man hours to produce wonderful, seasonally inspired dishes, showcasing the finest British produce for the 2016 award ceremony, with a nod to punk!

The Payne and Gunter team with a combined longevity of over 75 years working together comes across in our ability to shine each year and deliver an outstanding service, time and time again. Payne and Gunter’s long association with The BRIT Awards demonstrates that, like a perfect soufflé, they will rise to the biggest of occasions. Working with such great clients as the BRITs team who choose to return to us each year is never taken for granted and always a privilege.”

Eventim appointed official ticketing partner

Eventim are the official ticketing partner of The BRIT Awards 2016.

Simon Preswell, CEO Eventim: “Eventim are delighted to have been awarded the great honour and privilege of becoming the official ticketing partner of The BRIT Awards. We look forward to deploying a special BRIT Awards collectable FanTicket to all those attending and our continued association with this world class event.”

Life Water continue partnership with The BRITs

For the fourth consecutive year, Life Water will be the official water supplier for The BRIT Awards. Thanks to this partnership, The BRIT Awards have funded three entire clean drinking water projects in India and will be funding a fourth next year. To date, these projects have given over 3,000 people a sustainable source of clean drinking water. Life Water is the original British ethical bottled water. Every bottled of Life Water you enjoy funds the delivery of at least 1,000 litres of clean drinking water to developing communities in need through their partner charity drop4drop. Check out the BRIT Awards clean drinking water projects and see the difference they have made by visiting the projects page on drop4drop.org and searching ‘BRIT Awards’.

The BRIT Awards 2016 with MasterCard will take place on Wednesday 24 February 2016 at London’s O2 Arena and will be broadcast live on ITV. Ant & Dec will return as hosts.