It was a wise year for Pinterest to hyper-focus its efforts on Gen Z and make its grand Coachella debut. With Gen Zers driving a 1,100-percent year-over-year increase in searches related to Coachella outfit inspiration on the platform and tens of millions of queries related to the festival at large, the brand was uniquely positioned to track festival trends, and use that data to build an impactful sponsorship program.
Across both weekends of the event, April 12-14 and April 19-21, Pinterest activated a Manifest Station (get it?) experience where attendees could tap into the latest Coachella beauty and fashion trends and engage in moments of unapologetic self-expression. Among touchpoints, festivalgoers could have their outfits embellished with accessories selected by celebrity stylists and inspired by Pinterest’s Coachella trends, like “2014 core” and “Lana Del Rey core” (think: lace, leather, bows, pins, ribbon, charms, oversized hair clips and gems).
Fans who stopped by could also pose for “ethereal-inspired” photo ops and get “glowy” beauty looks created by celebrity makeup artists based on trend-inspired collaborative Boards on Pinterest. Styles like “hot metals” and “dark feminine core” were brought to life through colorful graphic liner, gemstones, pearls and metallic stickers. (Agency: MKG)
“As we started to head into planning for this year, we were honing in on this really remarkable organic growth spurt that we’ve had with Gen Z,” says Sara Pollack, vp, global lead of consumer marketing at Pinterest. “How do we maintain it? How do we nurture it and continue to accelerate our momentum there? So all of our marketing this year, for the most part, is very focused on Gen Z.”
With one in four Pinterest users planning to attend a music festival this year and Gen Z leading the pack, the brand has some serious insider intel. So Event Marketer asked Pollack for insights on building successful festival sponsorship programs that resonate with the coveted demo.