I’m with the brand: how businesses make headlines with festival-inspired experiences

That’s a wrap for the festival season. As the blues kick in and we hang up our cowboy boots for another year, we’re reflecting on the ways brands have engaged with festival-goers – without taking centre stage.?

Festivals have become prime real estate for all brands to connect with their audience. While drink brands are a natural fit, various brands, from detergent to tech, are now getting involved. It's also interesting to see how non-official sponsors find ways to take part. Whether you’re a die-hard festival goer or not, when festival fever takes over the news agenda, every brand competes to grab a slice of the publicity pie.?

So how can brands tune into the hype and create fun-filled experiences that make a name for themselves in live settings?

Insight

Consumers crave community over scrolling as we seek experiences that form connections and ground us in the here and now. It’s easy for brands to get lost in the digital noise, so as in-person events and meet-ups pique people’s interests, brands should look to connect with people where they are. A festival at its core is an organised moment of togetherness, and more recently this has manifested in things like reading raves, group walks and presentation parties as a unique way to get together and share. Although not quite the scale of a festival, they’re becoming cultural moments untapped by brands.

Brands are perfecting the art of enhancing live experiences. Festival activations were once overrun with brands dispensing free samples and merch as a first exit response. But as people’s expectations of brands grow, creativity has evolved to match. After Gen Zers drove an 1100% rise in searches related to Coachella outfit inspiration on Pinterest, it was perfect timing for the platform to set up stage in the desert. The brand was uniquely positioned to track festival trends and use the data to build an impactful experience that resonates with people on a deeper level. Across both weekends Pinterest presented a Manifest Station for attendees to tap into the latest Coachella beauty and fashion trends and engage in moments of unapologetic self-expression.

Experiences also extend beyond the event. Many fans form connections long before the event takes place. Swifties created friendship bracelets and customised outfits together, Glastonbury attendees formed syndicates to increase their chances of getting tickets, and festival enthusiasts conducted research through vlog channels. This presents an opportunity for brands to get involved in building the hype.

In today's digital world, offline experiences are a great way to capture people's attention by creating intimate, bond-building interactions that cut through the digital noise. It's important to strive for relevant brand experiences that tune into relevant occasions and encourage moments of digital detox, allowing people to relax and reengage with the world around them. By drawing inspiration from Pinterest, you can ensure that your experiences have a positive, inspirational, and life-enhancing impact on consumers, instead of encouraging endless doom scrolling.

What’s going on in brand?

Sell your soul

The canned water company Liquid Death invites visitors to “sell their souls” (AKA fill out an online survey) to enter the Liquid Death Country Club - an air-conditioned compound decked out to look like an emo members only club. Inside, you’ll find a live string quartet, a spray tattooing station and a bar stocked with free cans of water.

Merch Muses

Lidl gave three lucky fashion-forward fans the opportunity to become "Merch Muses" after winning a competition for the job of the summer. Successful candidates received VIP tickets to three top UK festivals, a ￡2k payment package, ￡500 travel and spending money, and the chance to blast the Lidl merch cannon into the crowds - all in exchange for wearing Lidl’s new collection, which includes bold bucket hats and new retro shell jackets.

Sleeping Rough

Mattress company Emma gets creative with its brand ambassadors as they sponsor avid festival goers TPD TV’s YouTube channel. Random to some, but reading between the lines, TPD has experience sleeping rough at festivals, making Emma a fitting solution to their problem - what’s better than a night on a comfy mattress after 3 nights on the cold hard ground?

What we think