Should You Target Music Festivals for Marketing Initiatives?

Whether you think a music festival is gathering to see and hear the biggest artists or simply as a star-studded social media event, Coachella is the embodiment of both. The annual phenomenon captures attention well beyond the California valley where it's been held (minus two pandemic years) since 1999. So it's a must that brands and marketers rush to be front and center in order to reach audiences in an authentic setting. Many brands splash out on major activations such as Revolve Festival to spread as much awareness as possible, interacting with their target customers in a way that is more effective than typical marketing channels. ‘Create a buzzy moment’ Some brands opt for creating big experiential moments to hype the release of an upcoming product or show. Take HBO Max, which partnered with brands like Supergoop, APL and Loops Beauty for an activation to promote the second season of its hit show The Flight Attendant. “Knowing how much of a breakthrough success the first season of The Flight Attendant was for us at HBO Max, we really wanted to create a buzzy moment by bringing The Flight Attendant to Coachella in a thoughtful way that aligns entertainment and pop culture seamlessly,” says JP Mallo, vp of originals marketing at HBO Max. With Coachella's opening weekend happening right before the Season 2 premiere, it was the perfect time for a “high impact” event. HBO curated a collection of wellness programming, treatments and activities to help guests “fest better.” Trained professionals were onsite from partners like Sameday Health, Brentwood Home, The Remedy Place and Loops Beauty providing complimentary IV therapy, cryofacials, lymphatic drainage massages, guided yoga sessions and more. “Every time we do these IRL activations, there are these intangibles you get that you can’t quite achieve with traditional media placements,” said Mallo. ‘Attention is expensive’ Ensuring that brands' products and services stand out and capture their target audience is a marketing challenge that never ends—and never gets any easier. Take Willa, the fin-tech platform that helps freelancers, influencers and content creators get paid instantly. The company knew merely showing up at Coachella wouldn't be enough. It also wanted to avoid the appearance of throwing together an empty promotional gambit that wouldn't net Willa anything beyond fleeting attention. So it launched Willa Air just before the festival. The private plane claimed to be a "first of its kind" service targeting content creators and influencers who could apply to get shuttled to major events throughout the year. Willa Air provided door-to-door service from Los Angeles to the Coachella grounds in Indio, California, featuring top-tier services like a Champagne breakfast and recovery IV drips inside its departure lounge in The Bank, Willa’s creator space in Venice Beach. Its inaugural flight took off with a variety of top online talent with a combined following of 34.6 million. "Willa knows how vital these events continue to be to influencers and content creators, and Coachella was the first event to come up where we knew we could launch this exciting initiative,” said Willa co-founder and CMO Aron Levin. While Coachella was the first trip, Willa Air also plans look at other major cultural events where influencers flock like New York Fashion Week and Lollapalooza. “Marketing and publicity stunts alone are no longer enough to captivate consumers, so at the core of the campaign, Willa wanted to invest in a long-term activation that offers true value to their target audience,” said Levin. The dream team Brands with narrower demographic or regional reach stand a better chance of being noticed by aligning with larger marketers. Events like Coachella offer emerging companies the chance to leverage the advantages of an established ally. In turn, a startup can provide added credibility and flexibility for a brand seeking to reintroduce itself to a range of consumers. That was the impetus behind Los Angeles-based organic grocer Erewhon Market's decision to expand its existing arrangement with Uber-owned delivery service Postmates, bringing co-branded organic juices to Coachella. But they didn't stop there. Erewhon also promoted the drink via Postmates to L.A. residents who couldn't make it to the festival. The idea was to offer a taste of Coachella by ordering on the Postmates app and capture consumers whose attention was already attuned to the event. From there, the market relied on Postmates' ability to target shoppers near its seven stores more directly. “That was our biggest goal, to tap into an audience that some of which are local, some of which are not,” said Erewhon Market chief growth officer Kabir Jain. This tag-team approach is one that any brand can take advantage of when planning a marketing activation that lets them punch above their weight. “There's a wide demographic that goes to Coachella, but a big part of it overlaps with who we attract at our stores. It just made a lot of sense for us,” said Jain. It's all knowing who your audience is and going to them. But it's the follow-through that counts. Whether or not a brand gets assistance from a larger partner or not, making the activation memorable comes down to having a clear offer that feels meaningful to the audience. By attending Coachella, these brands used simple, straightforward techniques to spread awareness beyond those who were already fans of their product. “It was an opportunity to get our product in front of people instead of just putting our name on billboards or putting our name on Coachella or being a sponsor,” said Jain.

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‘Create a buzzy moment’

Colin Daniels

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Colin Daniels