Coachella 2025: Brand Experiences & Activations
Published 25 April 2025
Coachella (Indio, California, April 11-13 and 18-20) still attracts significant buzz, although earned media value for fashion and beauty brands declined by 22.5% from 2024 levels during the first weekend (CreatorIQ, 2025). Yet, brand lessons abound in Gen Z-snaring fashion remixing, livestream commentary drawing remote fandoms, the ‘run club over nightclub’ phenomenon, a TikTok Shop-stoking roadside pop-up and festival-edition ‘loud budgeting’.
1. Pinterest’s Remix Fashion Activation Showcases Its Collaging Tools
2. YouTube’s Commentated Livestreams Lure Remote Global Fandoms
3. Hydration Drink Electrolit Harnesses Run Club Trend
4. Pacsun’s Pop-Up Stokes TikTok Shopping, Extends Festival Boundaries
5. A Gamified Coachella for Musically Minded Fortnite Fans
6. Festival Financials: BNPL & Loud Budgeting
For the second consecutive year, visual search platform Pinterest showcased its rising fashion inspiration role and utility as a remixer of trends for a young demographic it describes as “in a constant state of reinvention”. This is exemplified in its collaging functions, promoted within its on-site activation.
For the second consecutive year, visual search platform Pinterest showcased its rising fashion inspiration role and utility as a remixer of trends for a young demographic it describes as “in a constant state of reinvention”. This is exemplified in its collaging functions, promoted within its on-site activation.
Augmenting its annual livestreaming of Coachella stages – aka Couchella – YouTube deployed its new Watch With feature (announced last December), which allows creators to provide real-time commentary alongside live events. Leveraging the reach of five mostly comedic mega-creators from around the globe, YouTube assigned each of them to commentate on one performance and interact with comments in the chat.
Hosting a 5k run through Coachella’s campsite on both festival Saturdays, American hydration beverage Electrolit tapped into the ‘run clubs replacing nightclubs’ trend. Globally, Gen Z is four times more likely to want to meet people through working out rather than at bars, while worldwide run club participation increased by 59% last year (Strava, 2024).
Integrating its robust TikTok presence (2.1 million followers) with a real-life activation, Californian youth-focused fashion label Pacsun built a roadside pop-up outside Coachella that featured apparel exclusive to the activation and its TikTok Shop – a lucrative channel for the brand.
Coachella teamed up with Fortnite and developers working on the platform to launch activations and games featuring festival musicians and themes, cross-pollinating fandoms and (alongside its YouTube partnership) helping to boost the festival's global recognition.
The rising (see below) financial burden of Coachella attendance was in the spotlight this year, with roughly 60% of general admission attendees using the festival’s proprietary ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) service to purchase tickets (Billboard, 2025). Demonstrating Gen Z’s appetite for ‘loud budgeting’ (transparency around spending), several attendees attracted millions of TikTok views by breaking down their budgets.
Coachella 2025: Brand Experiences & Activations
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