Trend Spotted: Y2K Is Having a Moment in the Event World

American Express hosted an activation on Coachella grounds in 2023. This year’s Y2K-inspired space, produced by Momentum Worldwide, was centered on Gen Z’s love of “newstalgic” experiences. The area came complete with a vintage camera emporium and photo studio. In a partnership with eco-friendly camera company Paper Shoot, festivalgoers could rent or purchase a vintage camera at the AmEx Experience. Card members could also print their photos on limited-edition Coachella totes.

The Y2K theme also inspired a fun area featuring old-school "away" messages. See more: Coachella 2023: 40+ Steal-Worthy Event Ideas From the Creativity-Packed Music Festival

To celebrate season two of the Jessica Biel-produced mystery series Cruel Summer, Freeform hosted a lakeside Y2K-inspired celebration—complete with throwback details, a New Year's Eve celebration, and even some beloved ’90s stars. Throughout the space, vintage TV sets played throwback music videos and news clips from the time period.

Designed to evoke the new season’s 1999-2000 time frame, Freeform and experiential agency Little Cinema hosted a New Year’s countdown to the year 2000, with attendees donning Y2K fashion and a DJ spinning tunes from the time period. To further incorporate the theme, celebrities who were well known from the era—including Lance Bass, Matthew Lawrence, Tori Spelling, Mario Lopez, Tara Reid, and Beverley Mitchell—were invited to the event.

Photo moments included an Airstream activation where guests could take their own Polaroid photos to hang along the wall. The Airstream was decked out with posters and props from the Y2K time period. See more: Freeform's Nostalgic Cruel Summer Premiere Was a '90s Kid's Dream

To promote its new retinol products, the Youth Got This collection, beauty brand Bliss teamed up with influencer Tinx to host a Y2K nostalgia-inspired launch party in 2021 at Doheny Room in Los Angeles. Attendees were invited to celebrate their youth with the idea that “if you remember this, it’s time for a retinol.” The event’s tablescape featured nods to the year 2000 including a tabletop made from empty CD cases, candy necklaces, and Polaroid cameras, all in the collection’s lavender and white color scheme.

Display shelves adorned with branded VHS tapes were flanked by TVs playing old-school videos. Global full-service agency Another A Story handled the event’s design and production.

Lana Nicole Events created Bliss-branded candy and treats for the party, which sat alongside nostalgic candy brands from the era.

In 2018, to promote its new ’90s-inspired shoe line, New Balance teamed up with Foot Locker to host a public pop-up full of nostalgic details. The brands worked with marketing agency Stadium Status Group and design firm SPMDesign to create the spaces, which included a ball pit made from Koosh balls, a lounge inspired by SNICK TV shows, a bedroom filled with on-theme posters and props, and an old-school video store with VHS tapes. See more: 14 Colorful Ideas for a 1990s-Inspired Event

At New York City's Governors Ball Music Festival in June 2022, haircare brand OGX Beauty tapped creative agency MKG for a playfully nostalgic activation dubbed “Love Is in the House.” Designed to encourage attendees to celebrate themselves and love their hair, the whimsical, Y2K-inspired design featured a brightly colored house and yard area with lounges and Instagram-worthy photo ops.

Inside, professional stylists gave attendees hairstyles reminiscent of the ’90s and early 2000s (think: crimping and butterfly clips). The salon itself was bursting with color and design, from a black-and-white-checkered floor to a collage-style mural featuring OGX’s products, an “XOXO” wallpaper design, and more.

In the early 2000s, Motorola released its chic new Razr V3 phone, the first mobile phone that flipped closed. To underscore a sense of innovation and wow factor at the time, the phone made an unconventional debut underneath a glass case inside the Arken Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen. So, when the brand launched its new Razr phone in 2019, reinvented for the modern era, it nodded overtly to nostalgia during a futuristic relaunch party in Los Angeles. Entering the party, guests found a dark, cold room filled with freezers fronted with glass doors. Inside each was a vignette frozen in ice—for instance, a collection of some early-aughts fashion, or a group of antiquated mobile phones. See more: Why Did Motorola Freeze a Bunch of Old Flip Phones?

Motorola also leaned into Y2K nostalgia last month during a launch event for the Motorola Razr+. Produced by Mirrored Media, the event was designed as a mind-bending playground with two stages, an LED backdrop, and a performance partnership with Cirque du Soleil. Photo moments highlighted the four colors in which the flip phone is available, including a pink color for the first time since the early 2000s. The rosy shade, called Viva Magenta, is also the 2023 Pantone Color of the Year.

Kim Petras celebrated Y2K fashion with an intimate performance that ended the night. See more: Party Like It's Y2K: Inside Motorola's Mind-Bending Launch Event with Cirque du Soleil

In 2022, to celebrate the brand's new Mike’s Hard Freeze product, Crush Studio rented and redesigned an entire Los Angeles-area house for a monthlong, 1990s-inspired promotion. Highlights included a wall of lava lamps, custom Pac-Man-inspired shelving, a garage arcade with vintage games, and ’90s-inspired framed artwork. See more: How Mike's Hard Lemonade Transformed an Entire House for a Month-Long Experiential Activation