Why Coachella-born Heaven Mayhem is rethinking its festival strategy

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Heaven Mayhem soft-launched about two years ago, but the brand’s hero products —?bold, vintage-inspired earrings —?weren’t introduced until April 2023, during Coachella.?

“L.A. is always buzzing around Coachella, and I gifted [our earrings] to influencers for a few events. … [Influencer and Summer Fridays] founder Marianna Hewitt linked them in an Instagram Stories [post], which was so sweet and wild, [considering] the amount that brands probably pay her,” said founder Pia Mance.?

The earrings took off, quickly becoming the brand's main sales driver.

This year, however, Heaven Mayhem is intentionally “taking a step back” from Coachella, Mance said. The extent of its participation is “doing some gifting for Revolve influencers.”

“Festival season gets so oversaturated,” she said. “And in being on the influencer side [myself], I’m getting 10 emails a day with invitations to gifting suites. … I want Heaven Mayhem to be a slightly exclusive, if-you-know-you-know kind of brand. I don’t want to gift everyone and be everywhere all at once.” Mance has 116,000 Instagram followers, and heave Mayhem has 61,000.?

In 2022, Mance introduced Heaven Mayhem in the L.A. market with a line of handmade cord pendant necklaces. To make a go of her originally “just for fun” business, she invested $900 in materials, $180 in a six-month Shopify plan, $130 in an Amazon-sourced label maker and a Canva subscription, which today goes for $120 a year.?

“I was literally doing everything myself,” she said, regarding Heaven Mayhem’s early days —?the brand now works with a team of freelancers. Shipping using her home address and remembering to align packaging orders with inventory orders were among the “teething issues” Mance recalled.

“I haven’t put $1 [of personal funds] into the business since [day one], and we’re now a seven-figure business,” she said.

In addition to its e-commerce site, Heaven Mayhem now sells at Revolve, Shopbop, Bloomingdale's and stores in Australia. It will soon enter Anthropologie and additional international retailers.?

“I don't want Heaven Mayhem to be cool for a year and a half; I want it to be cool for a lifetime,” she said, explaining why distribution includes retailers targeting older and mass consumers.??

In addition, Mance doesn’t want Heaven Mayhem to be "another influencer brand," she said. As such, she waited eight months before revealing herself as the brand’s founder, instead choosing to “drip-feed” the information to her followers by posting and tagging the brand. “I want the brand to sit independently of me,” she said.?

However, in terms of building connections with the brand’s customers, she said she’s recently realized the power of telling her founder’s story and posting day-in-the-life- and behind-the-scenes-style content.?

“Heaven Mayhem isn't just a product — it's a community,” she said, noting that the brand fuels engagement with a blog, a newsletter, personal DMs and gifting. “We treat our customers like influencers,” she said.?

As for partnering with actual influencers, she said Heaven Mayhem is being choosy. It typically only gifts influencers who request products, and only about 5% of requests are granted. And, moving forward, Mance said, she hopes to further diversify the type of influencers the brand works with.?

“Because of the price point and the vibe, a lot of influencers just buy it —?and they create content and tag us. So it’s a win-win,” she said.?Most earrings sell for $100-$150.

This year, Mance plans to grow the brand by elevating its branding, marketing and messaging, as well as growing the team and expanding the product assortment to new accessories categories. Hosting physical activations, including pop-ups, is among her goals for the year ahead.?

“Done is better than perfect,” Mance said, describing her business approach. “If I'd waited for funding and the perfect packaging and the perfect ecosystem for managing our inventory, the brand would never have launched — or if it did launch, it would probably not be turning a profit. I'm in a good position.”

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