À Coachella, behind the music, there are also many promotional events.
One promotional booth after another, from makeup to social media: Coachella, the most renowned music festival in the United States, is also a landmark for brands and influencers.
Dozens of brand promotion events for clothing, makeup, or beverages are scattered throughout the space between the nine stages set up in Indio, amidst the Californian desert. The festival, which ends this Sunday, April 26, was expecting around 250,000 people over two weekends, with tickets selling out in just four days to see popstars Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber.
“There are so many people, it’s amazing,” rejoices Luz Maura, 24, at an e.l.f. Beauty booth, a cosmetic brand.
In a pastel-themed space, in addition to offering lipstick, makeup artists offer to enhance your beauty before heading back to dance. An operation that attracted thousands of people, according to Patrick O’Keefe, the company’s marketing manager.
The booth also offers selfie corners with comfortable chairs and, most importantly, the company’s logo in the mirror.
Disconnecting
In a festival known as a major meeting place for influencers and other social media personalities, a company wanted to take a different approach.
Pinterest, a site for creative inspiration and social network, turned its booth into a phone-free experience. Between concerts, visitors have to deposit their devices in a box before getting their makeup done or creating a small fashion accessory.
In the midst of public debate about social media addiction, “we made the decision to sacrifice immediate coverage to take the time to tell our story, who we are and what we believe in, and we hope this will have a long-term impact,” explains Sara Pollack, a marketing manager at the company.
A “really nice experience” for Liz Mendoza, a Californian festival-goer.
“Especially in an environment like this, where social media takes up so much space, where we want to take photos and post as much as possible, I find it really nice to have a few minutes away from your phone and just be in the moment,” she adds.
Coachella “is a good place to connect with Generation Z” (those born from 1997 onwards), which makes up a growing part of the users, according to Sara Pollack from Pinterest.
Freshness
These brand booths, in air-conditioned spaces, also provide festival-goers with a chance to find some refreshment, when the temperature in this arid corner of California can exceed 30°C during this time of year.
This is well understood by exhibitors, like Absolut, a Swedish vodka brand owned by the French group Pernod Ricard. Every year, they set up a space resembling a nightclub, with bars and DJs – last year, it was Paris Hilton behind the decks – to attract festival-goers.
“Coachella is a key moment for Absolut, because it’s not just a music festival, it’s also an ultra-dynamic social gathering and a cultural destination,” explains Bethan Hamilton, brand manager at Absolut.
These commercial events are essential for Flor Ruiz, a participant who is the festival’s age herself, 27. “For me, Coachella is nothing without things like this,” she says while leaving one of the promotional events. “It’s not just about the music,” she adds, “otherwise, we would only go to concerts.”
