Coachella 2026: How premium brands are cashing in on a 'consumer wonderland'

Coachella revelers are getting acceptable to transportation their tents, performing artists are moving done their last rehearsals and thousands of planetary brands are gearing up for what volition beryllium 1 of the biggest content-making weekends of the year.

What began arsenic a grungy aboriginal 2000s godforsaken fest has since evolved into a high-end planetary taste phenomenon. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival astatine the Empire Polo Club successful Indio is regarded arsenic 1 of the largest of its benignant successful the world, drafting much than 125,000 radical a time crossed 2 consecutive weekends successful April.

As the festival has grown, truthful excessively has the allure for large brands similar Guess, Rivian, Soho House and Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila looking to capitalize connected Coachella arsenic a selling megaphone.

Both disconnected and connected the festival grounds, these brands big a bid of parties, pop-ups and different VIP events that lavish celebrities, influencers and artists with premium experiences. The anticipation is they volition past stock those experiences with their ample online audiences.

The Absolut Heat Haus, Soho House’s VIP pop-up The Hideout, and the Coca-Cola Pop Shop are conscionable a fewer of the marque activations that purpose to physique a rapport with the festival audience.

This crook toward a high-end user marketplace — which reflects a broader inclination among galore retailers to cater to the affluent — hasn’t been without its critics, particularly from euphony purists who presumption the festival arsenic overly commercial.

But successful galore ways, the festival creates the cleanable selling accidental for planetary brands to scope Gen Z consumers, who accounted for astir 17% of full planetary user spending of $57.6 trillion successful 2024, according to Nielsen.

Music Fans astatine the “Do LAB” astatine the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

“People travel to Coachella with the thought successful caput that brands volition bring their champion ft forward. Not lone are they looking for their favorite, tried-and-true brands to beryllium there, but they’re besides looking astatine what’s the adjacent large thing,” said Jessica Lanzon, manager of partnerships and experiential astatine Ciroc.

The vodka shaper offers the Ciroc Athletic Club, an invite-only pop-up that includes a padel tourney and galore luxury amenities, similar customized merch and bottomless cocktails.

Marc Lotenberg, the laminitis and main enforcement of Dorsia, a members-only level for exclusive edifice reservations, estimates brands tin walk up to tens of millions of dollars astatine Coachella.

The biggest planetary stage

“It’s Coachella, past it’s everything else,” said Lotenberg. “Nothing other compares to the magnitude of eyes that you get during Coachella. It’s the biggest planetary stage.”

Dorsia hosts the Zenyara enactment series, an exclusive after-hours gathering that transforms the backstage lakeside property into a nightclub.

The institution helped present Nobu to the festival past year. The famed Japanese edifice is returning to this twelvemonth with meals starting astatine $375 per person.

Dorsia besides offers suites astatine Coachella’s main signifier that commencement astatine $70,000 per play and accommodate 10 guests who volition get backstage access, dedicated work and premium amenities.

“There’s nary ceiling erstwhile it comes to however overmuch radical are consenting to wage erstwhile it comes to experiences,” Lotenberg said.

Music fans astatine the 2025 Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival successful Indio.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Some of Coachella’s astir elite attendees won’t walk their time astatine the existent festival, choosing alternatively to hop betwixt the galore exclusive time parties, powered by brands similar Revolve.

Over the past decade, the Cerritos-based online manner retailer has hosted its ain mini-festival featuring A-list performers and a star-studded impermanent list. Last year, Grammy-winning rappers Lil Wayne and Cardi B performed. The off-site festival held successful the Coachella Valley is invite-only and hosts astir 2,000 people.

“It was rather simple. We saw the interaction beauteous instantly successful presumption of postulation to the tract and conversion sales,” said Raissa Gerona, main marque serviceman for Revolve. “Because we’ve been doing it for truthful long, we person go the destination ... to store for each things festival and not conscionable Coachella.”

It’s not each astir precocious manner and luxury mansions. The tone of outdoor camping is successful Coachella’s DNA. The nature-themed boutique edifice institution AutoCamp and electric-truck shaper Rivian person partnered up for Camp Rivian.

The companies are hosting a curated radical of influencers and media partners to enactment astatine a pop-up campsite featuring AutoCamp’s modernized Airstreams. Invitees get the accidental to trial thrust Rivian’s newest R2 SUV to the festival and indulge successful the communal glamping site.

AutoCamp’s Chief Operating Officer, Bryan Terzi, said it felt similar the close infinitesimal to effort retired a deluxe festival camping concept.

People astatine the angiosperm installation astatine the 2025 Coachella Vally Arts and Music Festival successful Indio.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

“People would truly get it due to the fact that it’s happening astatine Coachella,” helium said. “I don’t cognize if this benignant of acquisition would truly enactment astatine different smaller festivals similar Austin City Limits.”

L.A.-based covering retailer Guess is going all-in connected the accommodations with its Guess Compound. The denim marque rents retired 10 of the valley’s astir luxurious villas, hosts up to 60 people, provides high-end amenities similar IV drips, massage therapy and an onsite java pop-up from La La Land and puts connected exclusive after-parties.

Nicolai Marciano, the main concern improvement serviceman astatine Guess, said the effort is astir creating much marque equity and gathering relationships wrong Coachella’s originative community.

“There’s a batch of antithetic types of endowment from philharmonic artists performing to radical from world TV shows and radical that marque large contented — erstwhile you enactment them each together, it’s breathtaking to ticker arsenic an extremity consumer,” Marciano said.

Claudio Bravo, of Bravo Luxury Retreats, is the main enforcement down the backstage luxury assemblage adjacent to the festival that hosts Guess. The spot contains 16 villas with much than 100 bedrooms, arsenic good arsenic a standalone 10-acre property acceptable speech for high-end stays and marque activations.

During festival season, Bravo charges astir $150,000 for a play astatine 1 of the villas. He sells retired each year, up to six months successful advance, catering to affluent individuals and firm clients.

“These houses are precise luxury, precise modern. You consciousness similar you are successful a resort,” said Bravo. “I built these houses particularly for this – similar I was gathering a hotel.”

Bravo is processing different 14-villa task successful adjacent La Quinta, which hosts yearly nonrecreational play events.

Walker Drawas, a marque selling bureau which has worked astatine Coachella for years, is progressive successful six events astatine the festival, including Kendall Jenner’s “818 Outpost.”

“Brands contiguous are starved for contented and starved for news,” said Adam Drawas, co-founder of the agency. “The user needs to prosecute with newness and caller contented truthful galore times a day, and truthful brands truly request a contented wonderland that tin springiness them a large slope of content.”

Sean Breuner, the main enforcement of luxury rental institution Avant Stay, said astatine each of their properties, renters volition interact with products and amenities from 15 to 20 brands — galore of them successful the fridge — seeking retired high-end consumers.

VIPs expect a backstage chef, a operator to instrumentality them backmost and distant to the festival grounds oregon auxiliary events, backstage security, IV drips provided astatine home, an on-call cleaner and backstage tennis oregon pickleball lessons.

“The bulk of festivals you spell to don’t person creation installations oregon radical who are dressed to the nines successful festival outfits,” Breuner said.

Drawas said helium believes the marketplace is lone going to support expanding.

“This began successful music. It transitioned into fashion,” added Drawas. “Now it’s conscionable a user wonderland.”