Inside Heineken's 22-Year Partnership With Coachella, 'Gen Z's Super Bowl'

On a recent sweat-soaked Sunday night at Coachella, Lupe Fiasco was headlining a raucous Heineken House show, proving there’s plenty of appetite for rap at the festival best known for pop, indie and crossover genres.

The hip-hop artist, after wading in on various high-profile public beefs, surprised the capacity crowd by inviting his friend Tyler, the Creator to join him for an impromptu collaboration on Fiasco’s 2008 hit “Paris, Tokyo.”

Heineken execs were just as stunned—and thrilled—as anyone.

“We knew about an hour before that Tyler wanted to come watch Lupe because his team called to ask if it was OK,” Frank Amorese, the brand’s vice president of media and partnerships, told ADWEEK. “We had no way of knowing he’d get on stage.”

The guest appearance, a demo-spanning bit of kismet, capped the festival’s first weekend. Heading into the second weekend, which starts today, the beer giant’s lineup will again include Lupe, T-Pain, BIA and Fat Joe, among others, in Heineken’s 22nd year of sponsoring the seminal event.

Gen Z’s Super Bowl

The brand’s physical footprint has changed dramatically over time, though its strategy has remained constant: build a welcoming space for one-on-one interactions with consumers while gathering data, quenching thirsts and rocking out.

Heineken, along with other official festival backers, is aiming for quality time with the young Hollywood-heavy, influential crowds that flock to the two-weekend concert near Los Angeles. 

Amid slower-than-normal ticket sales—due to inflation or shark jumping, depending on the analyst—Coachella has so far retained a singular place as a pop culture touchstone and brand marketing magnet (the roster includes American Express, Dunkin’, Google Pixel, Coca-Cola and Pinterest).

“Coachella is an anomaly—it falls more into the category of the Super Bowl or the Oscars because it’s such a major moment on the calendar,” according to Tomos Evans, a branded activations veteran and co-founder of experiential agency We Are Swell that works with festival sponsor Aperol Spritz. “There are other huge festivals in the U.S., but none cut through culturally like this one.”

Continuing to tap into that zeitgeist, Heineken recently signed a new multi-year deal with Coachella and organizer-owners Goldenvoice and AEG. Though its experiential activation may keep evolving per concert-goer feedback, it has seen a handful of standout moments and tweaks during its extended run. Here are the top five:

Traffic jam

Heineken House drew about 100,000 fans during Coachella 2023, which marked a 20% jump from the prior year. Sampling, which is another measure of the sponsorship’s impact, also hit 100,000, with Amorese saying he expects 2024 numbers to top the previous tallies. If that’s true, it will be the biggest crowd the activation has ever hosted, possibly aided by a first-time integration into the official Coachella app.

New spin

Early in the sponsorship, the brand brought in DJs for live sets in its shaded and misted space. But starting in 2011, Heineken added a dedicated stage for performers, which over the years have included The Roots, Method Man & Red Man, Questlove, Thundercat and Flying Lotus, and Busta Rhymes & Friends (Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Ma$e). The move was a game changer, per Amorese.

“People don’t necessarily come to Heineken House because it’s a beautiful structure—they want to see artists they’re excited about,” Amorese said. “It comes down to the talent.”

The afternoon and evening entertainment at Heineken House is purposely staggered among Coachella’s main stage acts to cut down on FOMO so fans can fit in as much music as possible.

In good company

Coachella has continued to cement its place among the elite of Heineken’s long-term partners, which the brand prefers to one-off relationships in the experiential space, according to Amorese. The newly inked alliance proves the point, putting Coachella in league with Formula 1, the U.S. Open and UEFA Champions League soccer.

“We call them our tier-one partnerships,” Amorese said. “The goal is to put on a premium experience, but it’s not exclusive as in VIP—it’s meant to engage with as many people as possible.”

Open floor plan

The brand’s first activation at Indio, about 130 miles outside Los Angeles, was a rather standard 10-by-10-foot tent selling beer. And it was one of the few spots that had air conditioning, which offered cover from the punishing sun and temperatures that could hit triple digits. 

The space has morphed numerous times—there were once two giant domes—and it has hopped around the Empire Polo Club until finding its current location near the festival’s Outdoor Theater. 

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The airy footprint now measures nearly 100-by-100-feet, one of the larger brand activations on the site. A new openness—with outdoor decks, beer gardens, flower walls and art installations that Amorese called “much more inviting”—intends to mesh with the surrounding activity.

Day drinking

With the Soberchella movement in full force, especially with Gen Z, the brand recent began stocking the festival with its fast-growing booze-free product, Heineken 0.0, along with its flagship brew. On the menu again this year is Heineken Silver, a lower carb, lower calorie light beer that used Coachella as a formal introduction in 2023. The debut is credited with jumpstarting sales of the line extension.

“The sheer popularity of Coachella makes it a great launching pad—the impressions are massive,” Amorese said. “And it’s the perfect target demo.”