This week, I checked in with beauty marketers to learn how out-of-home and proximity marketing at music festivals like Coachella, Stagecoach and SXSW have evolved as festival popularity grows and execs target more diverse festival experiences. Additionally, Coty plans for 700 layoffs, and new executive appointments at Sol de Janeiro and Estée Lauder Companies.
Multi-brand pop-ups, novel activations and official sponsorships help beauty and wellness brands break through the festival noise
As festival marketing gets more competitive, brands are exploring new ways to stand out.
“Aligning with festivals and events can help you reach a very large number of the right consumers you’re looking for because everyone is gathered in one space, and they’re all so excited,” said Michelle Lee, fractional CMO of Landing International, a marketing growth company fueling the stateside expansion of many new K-beauty brands. “There’s just an energy about going to a festival. … Activations in a standalone space aren’t quite the same.”
Lee has seen this firsthand through Landing International’s “K-Beauty Mart” tour, a pop-up inspired by Korean convenience stores to highlight multiple beauty brands. A colorful, multi-room activation focused on 10 different brands at a time, K-Beauty Mart has been on a multi-city tour, with festivals being a major part of the strategy. Most recently, the team popped up at Revolve’s festival during Coachella Weekend 1.
“Standalone locations and festivals tend to serve slightly different purposes,” Lee said. For example, Lee’s team was able to reach more than 10,000 SXSW attendees during March’s art, music and tech festival but far less during Coachella Weekend 1. That’s because traditional music festivals are more competitive, Lee said, so they garner fewer attendees per pop-up. Unlike popping up in a city center or a mall, festivals allow for more targeted marketing and, therefore, are more valuable for the company’s purposes. “It’s a smaller number of guests, but a highly influential crowd,” she said.
Lee’s team used the pop-up to seed full-size products to guests from Rael, Mixsoon, Entropy, Some by Mi and more. At the same time, it collected attendees’ data, such as their opinions and awareness of K-beauty brands and concepts, via a short survey done via QR code. Outside of thousands of new shoppers’ information, the activation’s Instagram account gained more than 2,000 followers during SXSW.
According to a recent Coresight Research survey, nearly all festivalgoers surveyed — around 98.6% — plan to spend money on products they encountered at a music festival within a year following the event.
Multi-brand pop-ups continue to be one of the most cost-effective ways to meet festival-goers where they are, said Chris Anthony, chief revenue officer of Gallery Media Group, an experiential events company and lifestyle publisher behind PureWow, @ballplayers, @moms, @cocktails and @recipes.
Gallery Media Group hosts The Gallery Desert House, an invite-only event targeting creators and influencers. Sponsors of the pop-up include Raw Sugar hair care, Palmer’s body care, Bioré skincare and U by Kotex feminine care, as well as Authentic Brands’ Hunter Boots and Vince Camuto, and beverage companies like High Noon, Josh Cellars Seaswept and Patrón Tequila.
Similar to last year, the team popped up at Coachella’s first weekend, April 11-13, and also at Stagecoach this past weekend, in an Indio property close to the festival. Anthony told Glossy that Stagecoach, which has historically focused on country music but also included the Backstreet Boys and Nelly this year, is slowly usurping Coachella’s reach. “Stagecoach is this underpriced, but really high attention opportunity,” he said. “There are still brands that are only prioritizing Coachella, but there’s a lot of competition. … Stagecoach was this interesting surprise, almost like it’s stealing Coachella’s limelight.”
While this year’s attendance numbers aren’t yet in, more than 80,000 people attended Stagecoach in 2024, while Coachella saw 250,000 over its two weekends that same year.
The Gallery Media Group team customized its Coachella and Stagecoach activations, with some brands more focused on a certain weekend. They created yoga classes, styling booths, parties, gifting suites and more.
Small events that offer novel offerings can also garner attention. For example, Evolus, the maker of dermal injectable Jeuveau, a neurotoxin, and Evolysse, a dermal filler, took over the Arrive Hotel in Palm Springs during Coachella Weekend 1. The company offered dermalogical appointments on-site and brought in guests through a pool party hosted by influencers Helen Owens, Kelley Flanagan and DJ Kyle Cook. Together, the three have a combined 2.7 million followers on Instagram.
However, official sponsorships, as opposed to proximity marketing, could be the most powerful strategy of all. Neutrogena and E.l.f. Beauty each invested in official Coachella sponsorships.
As the official sunscreen sponsor, Neutrogena provided more than 200 gallons of Ultra Sheer SPF across nine sunscreen stations on the festival grounds across both Coachella weekends and, for the first time ever, Stagecoach. According to Neutrogena, the brand increased on-the-ground activations by 25% this year.
Meanwhile, E.l.f. Cosmetics and E.l.f. Skin were the official beauty and skin sponsors of Stagecoach. The brands featured a gifting pop-up called the E.l.f. Glow ‘N Go Diner on the festival grounds. Consumers were offered makeup touchups, free products and access to more activations.
Executive moves:
- Brian Franz is the new chief technology, data and analytics officer of The Estée Lauder Companies. His CV includes global financial services company State Street, as well as GE and PepsiCo. “Brian’s experience in modernizing infrastructure, building resilient and sustainable platforms, and advancing AI-driven capabilities will be critical as we accelerate our evolution into a more agile and consumer-focused organization,” said ELC president and CEO Stéphane de La Faverie in a statement.
- L’Occitane Group-owned Sol de Janeiro has two new executives. Elaine Paik has been appointed CFO, and Laurie Lovett is the brand’s new chief people and impact officer. Paik’s CV includes Impossible Foods and Colgate-Palmolive, while Lovett has held roles at Nielsen and Accenture. According to the company, 71% of Sol de Janeiro’s C-suite is made up of women.
News to know:
- Announced Thursday, beauty conglomerate Coty plans to cut 700 jobs as part of its “All-in to Win” business-streamlining program. Coty owns brands such as Kylie Cosmetics, CoverGirl, Rimmel and Sally Hansen, as well as the fragrance licenses for Tiffany & Co., Vera Wang, Escada and many more. “When we first announced our ‘All-in to Win’ program in FY20, at the peak of Covid disruptions, our goal was to boost our margin profile and brand reinvestment firepower through a significantly lower fixed cost structure, supply chain simplification, procurement savings and strategic revenue management initiatives,” said CEO Sue Nabi via a statement. “We are committed to building a stronger, more resilient Coty that is well-positioned for sustainable growth.” It has not yet been announced which 700 roles will be eliminated.
- Up against global import tariffs and shaky consumer sentiment, Procter & Gamble cut its full-year forecast on April 24. P&G owns brands like Olay, Pantene and Head & Shoulders. “We’re making appropriate adjustments to our near-term outlook to reflect underlying market conditions while remaining confident in the longer-term growth prospects for our brands and the markets where we compete,” said president and CEO Jon Moeller in a statement. Organic sales for its third-quarter fiscal 2025 grew 1%. Announced during the meeting, P&G said it would raise prices to combat the ongoing geopolitical turmoil.
- Canadian rapper and actor Drake plans to release his first fragrance on Friday. Called Summer Mink, the perfume will be the first fragrance from Drake’s Better World Fragrance House company, which has previously released candles and perfume oil. Parlux, the company also behind scents from Paris Hilton and Billie Eilish, is creating his first fragrance. Drake has made headlines recently due to an ongoing feud with rapper Kendrick Lamar.
Stat of the week:
User-generated content is four times more influential in driving conversions than influencers, with four in five Gen Z-ers citing it as a vital source of product research, and 84% of millennials saying it influences their purchasing decisions, according to a April 15 report published by DCDX, a Chicago-based research and consulting firm focused on Gen Z.
In the headlines:
Dove and Chamberlain Coffee serve up a plant milk cleansing collection. ‘They risk long-term damage’ – the girls as young as four obsessed with beauty treatments. Sunless tanners get their moment to shine. How to get beauty PR right in Africa.
Listen in:
Beautyfor founders Gabby Shacknai and Zoe Weiner join the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss their philanthropic work, donating the proceeds from beauty product sales to charity organizations.
Need a Glossy recap?
Prestige beauty lost the war on dupes — so what happens now? Japan’s top pro hair-care brand is leveraging a U.S.-based creative director and product line to expand stateside. Shein and Temu hike prices and join the global retreat from the US market. How brands and retailers are tackling the pain points of e-commerce. Inside Nuuly’s big micro-influencer community-building play.
