Coachella Influencer Marketing Strategies to Draw Inspiration From
In the realm of influencer marketing, few events hold as much cultural significance as Coachella. Beyond its reputation as a premier music and arts festival, Coachella has emerged as an annual event for brands seeking to leverage the influence of creators and celebrities both on social media and through experiential activations. From fashion to beauty, technology to lifestyle, the festival’s star-studded lineup attracts a global audience that offers an unparalleled platform for brands to showcase their products and engage with consumers in innovative ways.
In this blog post, we’ll cover innovative ways in which brands have approached Coachella influencer marketing, exploring strategies that you can take inspiration from.
American Express x BLACKPINK
In 2023, American Express took the opportunity to partner with BLACKPINK, the first Asian act ever to headline Coachella. As previously mentioned, Coachella attracts global audiences, and American Express took this opportunity to offer cardholders access to exclusive BLACKPINK merch that wasn’t sold anywhere else at the festival. Through this offering, American Express was able to provide their customers with a unique and exclusive experience, helping unite a diverse audience by building a sense of community generated positive sentiment toward the brand. In addition to partnering with BLACKPINK, American Express also partnered with creators to spread the news about their offerings.
Adidas x Bad Bunny
Another brand that went the route of a celebrity-level activation was Adidas, who also partnered with a festival headliner. As a long-time partner of Bad Bunny, Adidas took the opportunity to promote their latest collab with the Puerto Rican artist. The Campus Wild Moss sneaker was launched in a spring-inspired pop-up greenhouse, where the festivalgoers were able to purchase the new release before the general public. Adidas capitalized on the hype of Bad Bunny fans in attendance to offer an early release to his fans in attendance to drive conversions through exclusivity and FOMO.
Aperol Spritz’s #JoinTheJoy
Aperol Spritz took the opportunity of Coachella to launch their own event within the event. Taking inspiration from Italy’s iconic piazzas, Aperol Spritz launched the Aperol Spritz Piazza. In this space, festivalgoers were provided with photo ops, immersive AR experiences, and of course access to Aperol Spritzes. Creators were also invited on-site to educate attendees on how to create the perfect cocktail. For this activation, Aperol partnered with several influencers including; Paolo Di Benedetto, Ludovica Pagani, Mattia Stanga, Mikaela Silva, Patricia Jaggernauth, and Clotilde Esposito who encouraged their audience to #JoinTheJoy.
BMW’ X Doja Cat’s #RoadToCoachella
As the official automotive partner for the first Coachella post-pandemic, BMW came with a bang in 2022. BMW partnered with a long list of creators including Dixie D’Amelio, Sofie Dossi, Shina Nova, Nic Kaufmann, Patrick Ta, Diego Boneta, and Victor Cruz. Through this campaign, BMW remained top of mind among the audience of these creators. In the #RoadToCoachella content, creators documented their arrival to the festival in the bold and uniquely designed all-electric BMW iX Sports Activity Vehicle that was designed in collaboration with Doja Cat.
Conclusion
In conclusion, many brands have partnered with festival headliners to build on hype and maximize reach. However, other brands have also taken the strategic approach of partnering with creators as one arm of their marketing strategy, just one key component to a larger experiential activation. Whether the activation is large or small, these brands showed that influencers are key to Coachella influencer marketing.
About Captiv8
Captiv8 is a full-service influencer marketing solution that redefines end-to-end, inspiring you to think bigger, enabling you to plan smarter, and empowering you to execute better. Additionally, through our intuitive workflow, brands can uncover actionable insights on trends, discover and vet influencers, seamlessly activate campaigns at scale, amplify branded content across the digital ecosystem, and prove business impact through our measurement dashboard. Our platform gives you the tools you need to build relationships and effective content, while our teams lend experiences and strategic services to steer you clear of common influencer marketing pitfalls. Interested in learning more? Take a platform tour today!
