I recently returned from the Coachella Music Festival in Indo, Ca. If you happen to be generationally disconnected or just generally dis-like awesome music then you may not have heard of this epic event – where basically all of the best bands and DJ’s from all over the world congregate in the desert for three full days of amazing-ness (or madness).
Coachella is more than just a music festival, granted, it is quite possibly the best music festival in the world, but it is a gathering of like-minded invidiuals, it’s the modern-day Woodstock – well, maybe a little cleaner and a ton more organized (so I’ve been told). The tickets went on sale for this years’ event at January 13, 2012 at 10am and were sold out by 1pm PST – that may help you understand the recognition that Coachella as a brand holds.
I ventured out West to the desert with my good friends, Maxwell Winchester, Blake Bockhold and Chris Stewart. We only get together a few times a year and the excitement for this; our inaugural Coachella trip has been building for almost a year.
Arriving at the venue on Friday was somewhat overwhelming with the sheer size and extravagant production of the multiple stages, vendors, art displays and the music already blasting into the desert (If you want to hear more about all the rad performances that we had the privilege of seeing throughout the weekend stay tuned). I want to take a minute to thank all the people involved in the production of this spectacular event. Having been involved in putting events and trade shows together for clients at Next-Mark, I really appreciate the manpower and effort that it must have took to put on an event of such magnitude. Every nuance from lighting, stage set-up, to beer gardens and shuttle transportation was put together seamlessly.
There are many aspects of this event beyond the music that impressed me including the impact of digital marketing, social media, and the vast product placement (Heineken, Red Bull, Apple, to name a few). The digital integration at Coachella gave the ability to be automatically “checked-in” on Facebook with your wristband at various locations throughout venue, virally promote surprise acts (i.e Tupac Hologram), and build awareness of trending #coachella topics. Check out my pictures for a visual experience!
