Now in its ninth year, Outside Lands music festival has established itself as one of the country’s largest live-music events by attracting about 212,000 people to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Held August 5 to 7, the festival, produced by Another Planet Entertainment, saw more than 100 artists performing including Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, Lionel Richie, Lana Del Rey, J. Cole, and Duran Duran.
The event also took a big step forward with its tech offerings. For the first time, all food and drink vendors, as well as all merchandise stands, accepted cashless payments through PayPal, one of the festival’s sponsors. R.F.I.D.-enabled wristbands served as attendees’ entry ticket and digital wallet throughout the weekend. At Heineken House, which had live performances and DJ entertainment, guests could play with a digital graffiti wall and relax in a space that had a 360-degree HD video projected on the ceiling of both the domes, creating a party atmosphere that glowed in the brand's signature green hue at night. Heineken teamed up with experiential marketing partner the Corso Agency for the activation.
Google Chromecast brought back its Castland activation with several interactive experiences. In the Chromecast Audio GIF Booth, guests created images that included audio-reactive lighting and music by Outside Lands artists. Select GIFs from the Chromecast Audio GIF booth were shown on video-projection screens on festival stages. New this year, artists Major Lazer and the Knocks posed with fans for pictures that could be shared as GIFs, making the experience different from traditional meet-and-greets. In addition, Google-owned YouTube had stars Arden Rose and Jenn Im to bring Outside Land attendees into their YouTube festival coverage.
“Our focus for 2016 was to thoughtfully evolve the experience and further dial up amplification,” said Tami Anderson, managing director of Grow Marketing, which produced the activation. “Beginning in the spring, we worked in partnership with Google to refine and evolve elements of the Castland experience and identify and secure the ideal mix of talent to drive amplification.”
Google global director of hardware marketing Deirdre Findlay said: “Bringing Chromecast and Chromecast Audio to this music festival environment allowed attendees to experience the magic of casting and a new way of engaging with the entertainment they love."
Visitors could sample products and infuse the experience with surprises, such as when guests were randomly selected to receive Chromecast Audio devices.
The Arcade Powered by PayPal offered nostalgic trade experiences, with classic games like Pac-Man, Pinball, and Wack-a-Mole. Festival attendees were invited to play games free of charge, and their ticket earnings could be exchanged for various prizes such as emoji rings and a GoPro camera.
The Arcade's lounge area stations for guests to relax and charge up their mobile devices between sets.
Within the Arcade, there was a PayPal Store for attendees to purchase necessities such as lip balm and hooded blankets. For the first time, all food and drink vendors as well as the merchandise stands accepted cashless payments powered by PayPal.
Google Chromecast's Castland had custom kiosks where guests could cast their favorite content from popular apps onto big screens and speakers using smartphones or tablets.
As guests entered the space, they were transported into a living-room environment, where a Chromecast Audio demo was integrated into the GIF experience, which includes audio-reactive lighting and music by Outside Lands artists.
Chromecast partnered with YouTube creators Arden Rose and Jenn Im to expand the experience outside the festival and reach their online community of followers. Visitors could get ready for their camera close-ups in hopes of appearing in YouTube coverage of the festival. Guests were able to upgrade their festival looks with face jewels and temporary tattoos curated by Im.
Putting a clever spin on the traditional meet and greet, electronic-dance music trio Major Lazer posed with fans for shareable GIFs. The Knocks, another Outside Lands artist, also participated in this nontraditional experience.
Select GIFs from the Chromecast Audio GIF booth were shown on the festival stage screens between music sets.
Heineken House returned to Outside Lands for attendees ages 21 and over. In the lounge area, there was a digital graffiti wall with sharable photo experiences for consumers. Guests posed for a picture and then “tagged” the image with a variety of logos and stencils. Pictures could then be sent via email, shared over social channels, or printed.
A Heineken Beer Pass allowed consumers already within Heineken House to invite friends to attend with front-of-line access that included a complimentary beer upon arrival.
On August 6, rappers Warren G and E-40 reunited to do their first live performance of "Saturday," a track they originally recorded in 1994 with West Coast hip-hop pioneers Nate Dogg and Too Short.
Vita Coco, a sponsor, offered coconut water for purchase throughout the festival grounds.
Vita Coco had set pieces that guests could interact with for photos and social-media sharing.
