Known for being generally hip and cutting-edge in content, music festivals are breeding grounds for creative brand activations. Instead of ho-hum signage, brands like Adult Swim and Heineken have given their spin to carnival games and tracked beer using fingerprint scans. With major fests like Lollapalooza, Coachella, and Bonnaroo wrapped for 2013, here's a look at how brands have engaged music makers, fans, and media.
The Pageant of the Cosmos offered carnival games with an Adult Swim–inspired twist. For "Balloonicorn in Space," participants donned a unicorn hat and had to pop as many overhead balloons as they could.
Never mind the skeptics who said Goldenvoice's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival had overstepped when it made the move to two identical weekends last year. The event returned to the Southern California desert in April with blazing buzz. About 80,000 people a day came to the massive event, and brands followed. Heineken's sponsorship activation included cold storage for cases of festivalgoers' beer, which was tracked using a fingerprint scan and kept cold until guests were ready to imbibe. V Squared Labs also created the visuals for the brand's dome on the festival grounds.
Harper’s Bazaar brought the ShopBazaar pop-up boutique to the desert. Throughout the festival's first weekend, the event took over the Jonathan Adler–designed Parker Palm Springs hotel. Former Elle event chief Caitlin Weiskopf oversaw the event. "All purchases were made on ShopBazaar.com at the MacBooks or iPads in the pop-up, and guests could walk away with clothes to wear to the show that day," Weiskopf said.
Back for its fourth year at Coachella was Lacoste, which brought its Lacoste Live Desert Pool Party to a private estate near the festival grounds with production by Made With Elastic. The event included an activity/art installation that invited guests to shoot paint-covered tennis balls at a massive polo shirt called “Polo Gigante.” Beta Creative was behind the setup.
For right-on-trend festival looks, a flower crown station allowed guests to pick up garlands to wear on the spot—in exchange for a posting on social media.
For the fourth consecutive year, H&M was an official sponsor of the festival, but it expanded its presence this year from the festival's polo-field grounds to the 40-acre Merv Griffin Estate. More than 300 guests came for performances by Santigold, DJ Michelle Pesce, and others. Sleek signage in foliage and hedging served as chic, branded photo backdrops for celebrity arrivals.
More than 80,000 music lovers gathered at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, from June 13 to 17. In the spirit of garage rock, Ford erected a garage in the middle of the festival for its Fiesta Garage. Bands like Maps & Atlases and the Rubens performed while attendees lounged in mismatched armchairs. Also available were free customized T-shirts, iPads to browse the Internet, and a photo booth station.
Selected Instagram photos with the #Bonnaroo hashtag were displayed on the sides of the two main stages between sets. Instagrammers were also encouraged to submit their photos for the official fan documentary, True Roo: Fan Faces of Bonnaroo, by tagging #TrueRoo.
The planetarium, shaped like a character from an Adult Swim show, offered screenings of the channel's content as well as celestial graphics. Adult Swim also sponsored fireworks after headliner Jack Johnson's performance.
This year's Pitchfork Music Festival drew some 50,000 guests to Chicago's Union Park July 19 to 21. As part of the Twinkie marketing campaign that it has dubbed the "sweetest comeback in the history of ever," Hostess brought in a bright red food truck that doled out the recently relaunched treats. By the truck, guests could pose with a plush "Twinkie the Kid" and play a game of bags on a board that read: "Feed Your Cakeface."
Playing off its "Off the Wall" tagline, Vans had a painter create portraits of festivalgoers. The paintings hung on a temporary wall on festival grounds and will be auctioned off at future Goose Island Brewery events. Proceeds will benefit the 606, a local park and trail system set to launch in the fall.
With the hashtag #PopChipsToTheRescue, PopChips sponsored a so-called "rescue hut." Supplied by Tuff Shed, the activation was stocked with items that festivalgoers often need, including cell phone chargers. There were also games, a relaxation area, and an oversize prop frame that guests could use for photos. After the festival, PopChips worked with Habitat for Humanity to donate the hut to the Chicago community.
ZipCar recently partnered with the Chicago Loop Alliance on a pop-up art activation called "Fueling Local Art." At the festival, guests could watch local artist George Berlin treat the car like a canvas; after the event, the vehicle was washed off and returned to the local fleet of ZipCar vehicles.
Lollapalooza brought 300,000 fans and 130 music acts to Grant Park in Chicago from August 2 to 4, and brands vied to get in front of the throngs of media, music fans, and tastemakers. At the "Samsung Galaxy Experience," Samsung offered henna tattoos on festival grounds. Guests could pick a design from photos displayed on the Galaxy S 4 and Galaxy Note 8.0. At another station, flower wreaths were available.
BMF Media Group returned to the Hard Rock Hotel to host the "It's so Miami Lounge" throughout Lollapalooza weekend. Starbucks hosted its first Lollapalooza activation this year at the lounge. The suite offered oversize chess and Connect Four games, plus small café tables stocked with buckets of bottled iced coffee.
UrbanDaddy and Mini Cooper partnered to launch "Mini Night Out," which debuted at Lollapalooza. Through the campaign, guests could reserve a ride in the new Mini Paceman on Friday and Saturday for a "nightlife adventure," which included stops at Lollapalooza parties around town. Media, local influencers, and festival bands such as Imagine Dragons (pictured) sampled the service, which left from the Hard Rock Hotel.
On Saturday of Lollapalooza weekend, Fiji Water and Gilt City hosted the Better-Than-Backstage Rooftop Pool Party. Treats included snow cones made with Fiji Water. The event's main feature is an intimate performance from a Lollapalooza act, and this year's event offered live music from MS MR.
The 2013 South by Southwest music, film, and technology festival wrapped March 17, with an estimated 150,000 people turning out for all or part of the 10-day event in Austin, Texas. Plastic housewares brand Glad and Keep America Beautiful partnered to provide 13 trash, compost, and recycling areas, diverting much of the festival's waste. Adding another layer to the activation, artist Jason Mercier created a mural of America made from SXSW trash, with digital prints of the artwork available for download.
USA Network used a new "video paint" technology to promote its original drama series Graceland. Attendees were invited to a pop-up location in downtown Austin's busy bar strip, where they could use a digital paint-brush roller to project Graceland images on the walls of buildings.
For those who wanted a permanent souvenir of SXSW, the Asos Music Lounge included an on-site tattoo artist for V.I.P. guests. The three-day music venue and restaurant was presented by the British fashion online retailer at the Cedar Door Bar & Grill.
