Brand focus: New award to support emerging bands.

Red Stripe has formed a unique partnership with Music Week and the Barfly group to launch a bespoke UK mu sic award designed to recognise and reward emerging and unsigned British talent

The Red Stripe Music Award (RSMA) will take the shape of a virtual "scholarship package". The winner will benefit from ongoing support from the Barfly Group and Red Stripe, securing the support slot for a yet-to-be confirmed, established UK band, a slot at the Music Week stage at The Great Escape in May as well as a slot at another high- profile UK festival.

The field will be narrowed down by canvassing opinion from event promoters and music industry types via a series of UK-wide events taking place between January and March. RSMA scouts will attend the gigs and select the six most exciting artists to perform at the final in London in April. The RSMA recipient will be chosen by a carefully selected team of tastemakers.

Red Stripe, Barfly - The Great Escape and Music Week will be jointly co- ordinating and promoting the RSMA nights with local promoters in each area. Publisher Ajax Scott says the award is a more realistic and, indeed, feasible way of nurturing new talent. "We began communicating with Red Stripe about the award because we saw a gap in the market for a music award that gave something back in the way of artist development," he says. "Far from being yet another music award where the winner walks away with a pat on the back and a shiny trophy for the shelf, the Red Stripe Music Award offers a realistic platform for new talent to help take their craft to the next level."

Red Stripe's senior brand manager Jonny Kirkham affirms that message. "Red Stripe is tactical in its approach to music activity and believes that `badging' major music events is not credible to the industry or fans alike. The quality of message outweighs the quantity of numbers it wants to speak to. The RSMA is about recognising new talent and providing a platform for new artists who are hell-bent on breaking down barriers."

Red Stripe has enjoyed a long and rich history with music; indeed, where there have been guitars and the will to rock'n'roll, there has been the obligatory can of Red Stripe. From The Clash, to Oasis to The View, British bands have worn their association with the lager like a badge of honour, flaunting it on magazine covers and even in their own album sleeve notes.

Kirkham says that over the past three-and-a-half decades the beer has become inherent with good music and a spirit of youthful rebellion. "Red Stripe's association with music was cemented with the emergence of reggae, punk and ska in the UK in the late Seventies," he says. "Red Stripe symbolises the discovery of something real and credible and is ...