Festivals & Fan Cons

An estimated 385,000 attendees descended upon Chicago’s Grant Park for Lollapalooza, July 29 through Aug.1, kicking off a festival season that has thus far proved unlike any other. The festival instituted a number of precautions to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant, from the required proof of vaccination or, alternatively, a negative COVID […]

Surprise content, concierge service and a sense of place and mission—these were among the elements that led to the success of the Essence Festival of Culture, which took place as a hybrid event over two weekends, June 25 to 27 and July 2 to 4. The hybrid gathering combined elements of Essence magazine’s wildly popular […]

ComplexCon is a tentpole event for Complex Networks that attracts nearly 60,000 rabid streetwear fans each year, so when COVID shut down the in-person festival in 2020, cancelling altogether wasn’t an option. But the resulting pivot to digital needed to go far beyond Zoom calls and flash sales to appeal to the event’s young, discerning […]

FX was in the midst of planning its seventh year activating outside the convention center at Comic-Con International: San Diego when COVID-19 struck. With the convention shifting to digital as Comic-Con@Home, FX formulated a program that would honor the things fans love about the network’s in-person activation with immersive and interactive elements. “We approached it […]

It’s hard to believe it, but festival season will be here before you know it. From Coachella to Bonnaroo to CMA Fest to Governors Ball to the slate of brand-owned properties cropping up, the music festival sponsorship space shows no signs of slowing down. To give you a leg up on your fan activation strategies, […]