NEW ORLEANS—Last year, like many major tentpole events, the ESSENCE Festival went completely virtual, offering its programming in a digital format. This year, the 2021 ESSENCE Festival of Culture Presented by Coca-Cola transformed once again—this time into a hybrid event with both virtual and in-person events.
Taking place across two weekends, June 25-27 and July 2-4, the virtual portion of the festival included the media brand’s mainstays such as Beauty Carnival, Wellness House, Get Lifted and Wealth & Power. A new partnership with Verzuz also debuted this year. Veteran R&B musicians Keith Sweat and Bobby Brown battled it out on July 1 as part of the popular series that was created by producers Timbaland and Swizz Beatz.
While the virtual programming was similar to 2020, festival organizers were allowed to bring back in-person events for Louisiana residents, from July 3-6, including outdoor concerts, drive-in experiences, masterclasses and panel discussions, all held on mobile stages in remote locations throughout the city—“a footprint that we normally don't activate at festival, really deep into the community,” explained Carmen Jones, experiential director at ESSENCE.
To reduce crowding, in-person events offered concierge-style service, attending to festivalgoers directly at their seats or in their cars.Photo: Colin Miller
“I think it was one of [ESSENCE's] objectives to give back to the community. So rather than have it in downtown New Orleans at the convention center or near the Mercedes-Benz Superdome where you usually have it, you had it off the beaten path in some locations that actually don't always get the attention,” explained Mark S. Testa, founder and creative director of Mark Stephen Experiential Agency, citing St. Augustine High School in the city’s lower Ninth Ward and the University of New Orleans as some of the unexpected locales.
The “festival is all about NOLA and the culture. It's not an event that we just plop into a particular city. We have a very intertwined, intimate relationship with the city,” Jones said.
That included keeping the safety of the city’s residents top of mind. Even though New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell lifted the city’s mask mandate while the festival was taking place, organizers still enforced mask-wearing during in-person programming, and production staff members who were not fully vaccinated were required to adhere to daily antigen testing.
To reduce crowding, in-person events offered concierge-style service, attending to festivalgoers directly at their seats or in their cars, “so they wouldn't really engage outside of their tribe,” Jones explained.
A new virtual marketplace showcased festival sponsors and Black-owned businesses, including Coca-Cola, Aveeno, Ford, My Black is Beautiful, Neutrogena and Walmart.Screenshot: Courtesy of Mark Stephen Experiential Agency
“For many Black-owned businesses, we are a huge revenue stream at the festival on the ground. And so we couldn't go another year without trying to find a way to support their businesses and drive brand awareness and traffic to their websites,” Jones said about the importance of the virtual marketplace, which will likely become a permanent fixture at the fest. “We get tons and tons of vendors on the ground in New Orleans, but there are hundreds of them out there, thousands that we would like to tap in, so the virtual marketplace presents those things,” she said.
In addition to the marketplace integration, festival sponsors were also incorporated into the programming through panel discussions, giveaways and more. Plus, this new hybrid format afforded them even more opportunities.
“It allowed us to be able to accommodate where the different brands were in terms of the desire to be on the ground or to be virtual,” Jones explained. “And so we gave them the best of both worlds. They could choose how they want to show up in both scenarios.”
Both in-person and virtual concerts featured performances by Jazmine Sullivan, DJ Khaled & Friends, Ne-Yo, Amerie, Tank, Kirk Franklin, Davido, Lucky Daye, Carl Thomas, D-Nice and more.Photo: Danielle C. Miles
“When [ESSENCE] decided to go hybrid, go back to New Orleans, it was a sign that the world was coming back. And it wasn't just our feeling, it was all vendors in New Orleans,” Testa said.
All of the events—both virtual and in-person—were free of charge, except for the VIP beauty experience, which includes a gift bag and masterclasses. “It was really important to us not to transfer any costs,” Jones said. “We kept in mind the times that we were in. It would be inappropriate for us to charge when people are going through so much.”Photo: Colin Miller
Festival organizers hosted in-person events, from July 3-6, including outdoor concerts, drive-in experiences, masterclasses and panel discussions, all held on mobile stages in remote locations throughout the city.Photo: J.R. Thomason
Online visitors were able to browse the New Orleans-style marketplace that features a resident DJ spinning a curated playlist, interactive lounge areas, promotional signage and even a functioning fountain.Screenshot: Courtesy of Mark Stephen Experiential Agency
