Pollstar (08/01/19) Trakin, Roy

This year's Lollapalooza music festival will feature pop-up destinations for brand activations from sponsors like Revlon, Bud Light and HBO. C3 Presents' Courtney Trucksess has observed a boom in sponsorships and brand participation. "We try to find sponsors to provide an alternative for fans to just standing by the stage listening to music," she says. Revlon, for example, is Lollapalooza's first major beauty brand this year, with an on-site skating rink to promote and hand out vinyl lip polish, in addition to a female disc jockey and influencers. HBO, meanwhile, is setting up an air-conditioned tent to promote a new comedy, and Chipotle will sponsor a pop-up restaurant. "The sponsor can come in and offer the opportunity to interact directly with the consumer face-to-face, by building relationships that they might not have as a bank, a beer or a beauty product," Trucksess notes. She admits sponsorships and branding are complicated issues, especially when striking a balance between business opportunities and Lollapalooza's preference for alternative music. Trucksess says the strength of sponsorships is in the insights that partners and brands gain in terms of consumer engagement, brand activation and contacts that persist after the festival.

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