Companies like Absolut and Meta are dusting off their event marketing skills for the festival.
You might have heard about a certain influencer “airline” taking to the skies for Coachella—but have you seen what brands are doing on the ground?
Meta: The artist formerly known as Facebook is partnering with Rolling Stone for a “creator house” activation at the festival. TL;DR: It’s a way for Meta to help influencers learn more about the tools available to them on its various platforms.
HBO Max: Speaking of airlines, HBO Max is making its Coachella debut with an invite-only “pre-flight” lounge inspired by its show The Flight Attendant. The streamer plans to offer wellness treatments like spa services and a juice bar inside the experience.
Lay’s: None other than Lay’s is sprinkling “Potadomes” across the festival where attendees can reserve a “four-course tasting experience” in advance. The brand is also building a lounge that includes a sampling room.
Absolut Blends the Real Coachella With Metaverse Activation
The vodka brand plans to mix the digital world with an in-person experience at the music festival
Absolut, which is debuting Absolut.Land in tandem with the return of Coachella on April 15 following the music festival’s two-year hiatus during the pandemic.
There’s also a bar, items of clothing, and hidden bottles and fruit that unlock prizes and cocktail recipes. In-person festivalgoers, for instance, can become digital bartenders in Absolut.Land through an interactive kiosk and mingle with the avatars of people sitting on their couches back at home.
Coach takes over Coachella with Coach House – a place full of entertainment for guests. Filled with rexy floats, a bar, DJ, and more.
H&M starts the day with a poolside event in Indian Wells, Calif.; Rolling Stone is throwing its annual daytime party; Rachel Zoe returns with “Zoeasis,” and Interscope Records will host a party for the sixth year.
Revolve, teaming up with H.wood Group, will unveil Day One of its two-day mini-festival — a coveted invite — from 1 to 8 p.m., featuring a lineup of celebrity performers including Jack Harlow, Latto and Bia. The e-commerce brand will also have designer Peter Dundas in tow, to showcase the latest Dundas x Revolve collection.
New to the fashion action this year is Hugo Boss, taking over Limón hotel in Palm Springs as part of Hugo House (hosting influencers and events through the weekend) and partnering with Soho House at Soho Desert House, a pop-up with concerts and special events taking place a few miles from the main festival site (and where headliner Billie Eilish is offering an activation for her fragrance, Eilish.)
“We’re repositioning,” said Miah Sullivan, senior vice president of global marketing and brand communications at Hugo Boss, explaining how the brand is splitting into Boss, which is targeted toward Millennials with the tag line, “Be your own boss,” and Hugo, which is targeting Gen Z and is all about self-expression.
The Hugo brand, in particular, has been closely associated to music, she continued, since it started bringing musical guests to its social channels. “For Hugo, this is the first time we’re at Coachella, and now that we’re doing the rebranding strategy, we have a much bigger activation plan built around festivals in general…
“We’re able to take physical events and create social media shock waves,” she said, explaining that the brand has seen a 20 times return on investment in terms of earned media value. “For this particular event, we set the benchmark at a five time return on media values. But I’m quite sure we’re going to exceed that…”
StockX is offering merch collaborations as the first official merch drop partner of Coachella. And, extending the weekend, miles away in Palm Springs, Ron Herman has a pop-up taking place through the month at the Mojave Flea Trading Post.
The partying doesn’t stop the week between the two Coachella weekends, either; Burberry and Alexander Wang are among those taking advantage of the high-profile festival hammock to stage their own events in L.A.