Music Festivals & Brands: A Collaborative Future

the projects*
Jul 28, 2017 · 8 min read

A glorious momentary oasis of art, bars, food, fashion and a killer lineup to tie it all together. The music festivals that we all know and love today have truly evolved. The cold hard truth unfortunately is that it’s not about the music alone anymore. This underlying and emerging notion has been on the horizon for sometime now and no one ever really wanted to accept that it was the dawn of a new era for an industry with humble beginnings. However, I think we can all agree that in recent years the pressure placed on the industry to keep up with new audiences has clearly come to the forefront and nobody can deny the industry’s spectacular transformation year on year. The modest music event of yesterday has transitioned into part experiential wonderland, part fashion runway — a key highlight on most social calendars today.

Festivals Before
Festivals Now

The competition for the modern music festival to produce the greatest transformational experience for punters and to remain at the centre of cultural relevance has fiercely intensified. The demand for more innovative offerings and unique experiences beyond just music has allowed the festival grounds to become a powerful and opportune stage for brands to creatively leave their mark. In a recent study, 82% of high profile brand managers stated that they are are set to increase their involvement with music festivals in the coming year, with the remaining 18% keeping their involvement consistent (1). And I’m not talking about slapping a logo across a bar and calling it a day. I’m talking meticulously curated branded spaces that subtly blend into the festival arena, that take everything you think experiential activations are to a completely new level. If you take a step away and observe from the outside, it’s not only a runway for attendees to showcase their latest glittery fashion find, but an intense battlefield of brands striving to be the loudest.

Coachella Music and Arts Festival

The US have without a doubt lead the way in this sector and continuously illustrate the exciting collaborative future between music festivals and brands. Take California’s annual musical desert paradise, The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival which If it was a person would totally be the CEO of modern music festivals. Each year the experiential offerings and brand involvement become increasingly monstrous and lavish. A standout this year was definitely Absolut who created an Absolut Lime oasis in the middle of the desert festival site, complete with an interactive dance floor, whilst also immersing festival goers in a refreshing lime scent. Coachella also pioneered the notion of off-site brand activations. Yep, the competitive battleground continues outside of the festival with brands capitalizing on the annual event and the “party” scene surrounding it, which has evolved similarly in scope. This year Revolve dominated the brand race with the perfect mix of venues, artists and influencers attending their six events that spanned throughout the weekend — marking their biggest activation ever attempted.

Kendall Jenner at Revolve Activation Space, Coachella Music Festival

However, some festivals have pushed away from being known as a festival to be seen at and are eager to maintain and showcase their local roots. Last weekend FYF Festival, which was first conceived as a hyper-local gathering and interestingly is also run by the same promo company as Coachella, rolled out their incredible lineup of music, food and art. Art installations included a giant boom box created by local creative Danielle Garza, promotional efforts highlighted only the music value, and food offerings were proudly served up by LA’s incredible food scene. Let’s be real, listening to Bjork and eating from LA’s infamous Kogi food truck would be a transformational experience in itself for me! Lollapalooza Paris which also surfaced last weekend, had a similar approach to FYF and focused their efforts on showcasing their local flair. For the first time ever, they executed Lolla Chef, which brought together several great Parisian chefs who reinvented their signature dishes into accessible street-food versions. Now that’s what I call peak casual dining!!

FYF Festival Billboard — Twitter

Here in Australia, last weekend also marked the annual pilgrimage to Byron Bay for Splendour In The Grass. Within the past four years, the festival has undergone a rapid transformation and has grown to be the no.1 music festival in Australia, comparable to the likes of Coachella and Glastonbury (3). Everyone can remember their first Splendour experience and for me there was less than half of what is on offer at the festival today. At the projects* we have been working with our friends at Rimmel for the past two years and were the first to take them to the festival front-line to take hold of the emergence of festival fashion and beauty at Splendour in 2016 by introducing “The Rimmel Room.” An oasis for those wanting to keep their festival look fresh and unique across the four day festival. Gotta be lookin fly in your festival Instagram pics and snapchats am I right? Fashion and beauty is now more than ever a key rule to festival culture globally, so we had to ensure that Rimmel was the chief commander of the intersection between music and beauty. This year we unleashed the The Rimmel Room back onto the fields and firmly pitched their tent with a new bold look, name and exclusive Rimmel Retreat for some of Australia’s leading beauty and fashion influencers. Dedicated Rimmel Recharge Crews ventured into the field to help make the mornings easier for campers with free deodorant, face wipes, sunscreen and perfume, whilst the Recharge Room was pumping with free makeovers for festival goers.

Rimmel Recharge Room
Secret Sounds for Splendour in the Grass 2017 — Rimmel Activation

Taking a wider look at Splendour this year uncovered a lot of new exciting movements for brand opportunities in the future. Taking cues from Coachella, this year marked the first time brands were more inclined than ever to associate themselves off-site. Nana Judy had exclusive guests buzzing with a highly-anticipated party at Angus Stone’s private Byron Bay estate — could they try to be any cooler! Online fashion retailer Beginning Boutique created the BB Crib to host and dress fashion influencers, and one of my favourite brands ever Spell and the Gypsy Collective hosted their own pre-splendour party where they announced their new summer collection — also appropriately decked out with influencers of course. Kiehl’s has been a long time partner with the festival and have activated some very cool installations in the past onsite. However this year they also extended their brand off-site and joined forces with Client Liaison to create an exclusive party dubbed Nature’s Playground, with a private performance from the artists and a shareable space perfect for guests’ social snaps during the weekend. It’s officially safe to say that the easy-going Splendour of the past is on its way to becoming a lavish cultural landmark of the future.

This year also showcased a new level of crazy when it comes to shareable art installations. Each year the grounds become a wacky gallery space, with sensory, monumental art installations that become the main backdrop for most punters token “splendour pic.” If you don’t gram it, were you really there? This year a giant inflatable ‘Happy Kanye’ stole the spotlight. It’s seriously epic. This is definitely an untapped space for brands to possibly own in the future.

#happykanye at Splendour in the Grass — Photo from ToneDeaf.com

It’s clear that as music festivals have become more culturally relevant, they have undergone a dramatic makeover and in turn have provided the perfect platform for brands to tap into their consumers passion points. At the projects* our office is full of music lovers, loyal festival punters and fashion and beauty experts and we remain eager to help brands enter today’s exciting music festival space. We have a deep understanding of audiences and the ever evolving trends that form today’s global festival culture which are key to ensuring your brand makes noise in the crowded festival battlefield. If you are interested to learn more, please drop us a line, festival season is all year round at the projects* !


theprojects

the projects* is a creative agency based in Sydney, LA, NYC and London. We anticipate trends, lead conversations and create inspiring, credible experiences.

the projects*

Written by

An independent brand consultancy with offices in LA, NY, London and Sydney. We craft creative solutions that keep brands thriving in an ever changing world.

theprojects

the projects* is a creative agency based in Sydney, LA, NYC and London. We anticipate trends, lead conversations and create inspiring, credible experiences.

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