Elton follows the stones with fascinating tour sponsorship

When you think of something as dry as planning for retirement, legacy rock artists aren’t the first things that come to mind. But the more you turn it over in your mind, the more logical it becomes.

Stars like Elton John and the Rolling Stones certainly don’t seem to be retiring, and neither do many of their fans.

It’s the simple equation that prompted the Alliance for Lifetime Income to partner with the Rolling Stones on their latest tour. Having covered this event before, I was intrigued to chat with Jean Statler again when I saw the announcement that Elton had also signed.

Jean (ALI’s CEO) was joined in our call by ALI’s Director of Communications, Cyrus Bamji. Cyrus pointed out that there is a big overlap with Elton in this partnership, “in fact, Elton and the Alliance are even more aligned than with the Rolling Stones. Elton has announced that he is retiring from touring and that he was ready to enter the next phase of his life with his children and that’s exactly what the Alliance wants us to think about. Indeed, Elton has done a great job collaborating regularly with young artists and releasing his Lockdown sessions LP.

Jean pointed out that with the current generation of baby boomers approaching the traditional retirement age, it is becoming clear that retiring from a job is not the end of the activity and that with good planning, all of those bucket list activities can actually happen.

Elton’s “Yellow Brick Road” pattern is synonymous with the Alliance message. Compared to the Stones’ fan base, Elton’s is certainly larger and certainly includes more women. And that brings up an interesting aspect, which is that the cattail side is often overlooked when it comes to retirement planning. In other words, women are often left out of the equation too far or too late when it comes to financial planning.

*Elton John, Buffalo NY, August 7, 1976 (photo by Brad Auerbach)*

As for the activation proposed on site during the concerts, Jean indicated that the activation will occur later in the tour and mainly during the shows in the stadiums. The theme will be built on the idea of Yellow Brick Road and the Bucket List, to follow Elton’s wish list of retirement activities. In terms of key art and merchandise, the Alliance is looking at the eyewear motif (they had previously incorporated Rolling Stones language). Elton and Walmart already have a partnership around eyewear, and the Alliance plans to triangulate and include the Elton John Foundation in some aspects.

Jean and Cyrus hinted at a live stream at the Grammy Awards. Elton’s tour has dates scheduled through the summer of 2023.

We concluded our conversation by noting that Elton’s last concert in North America will be in November at Dodger Stadium, where Elton has had several memorable performances during his career. And of course, his career in America began in Los Angeles at the Troubadour.