Coachella, once dubbed the ‘Influencer Olympics’, is about to be staged for the first time since 2019. A lot has changed in the interim, not least the explosion of TikTok. Sedge Beswick, the CEO and Founder of the innovative influencer marketing agency SEEN Connects, unpacks what this means for live events, influencers, and brands.
Sedge Beswick, CEO and Founder, SEEN Connects
April 2019 could have existed in an alternative universe, and I wouldn’t be surprised. The weather was warm in Indo, California, Ariana Grande had reunited ‘NSync, and it was months before the first case of Covid would hit US soil. It was also (mere) months before a single platform (spoiler: TikTok) would disrupt social media, changing the face and feel of influencer marketing, as well as the way that we consume content.
Back in 2019, the last time Coachella was staged, 37% of people had never heard of TikTok. Over the subsequent years, usage of the app has snowballed and now has 1B+ monthly users (for context it had 381M in 2019).
With its unspooling vertical video-first For You page, TikTok has reconditioned social users and forced other platforms to adopt its features (looking at you, IG Reels). It operates fundamentally differently from its nearest competitors as it’s not about who you know and follow. The app has an algorithm that focuses on grabbing your attention within 0.03 seconds before you swipe on, which has meant creators have had to get creative about stopping viewers’ thumbs from flinching. The rawer and zanier the opener, the more likely we are to stop and watch.
Along with pushing influencers to publish less glossy static imagery and more ‘authentic’ unedited footage, the Chinese-owner app prioritizes sound. Every TikTok has a soundtrack, whether that’s a voiceover or trending track. It’s meant that the platform has become an outsized player in the music industry as it’s a key source of music discovery.
TikTok’s helped rechart old hits, push new releases to #1s, and secure record contracts for the platform influencers. Behind the scenes, the labels are now feeding upcoming releases to influencers to help leverage their networks to make a song trend (and then top Spotify). It will come as little surprise then that in correlation, we’re now listening to more musicthan before – in the US consumption grew by 11.6% between 2019 and 2020.
Coachella goes with influencer marketing like peanut butter with jelly. The two don’t need each other, but they are better together. For brands, these two weekends in the desert are one big UGC opportunity, giving them ample celeb content to plug the gaps between their seasonal SS and AW collections. Back in 2019 (when the influencer marketing space was worth $6.6B) it was dubbed the 'Olympics of Influencers', now the industry is worth $10B. There’s no reason to doubt this year will be any less fuelled by branded partnerships, after all, Revolve, Stock X and Levi’s have already been announced as party sponsors.
With the average of Coachella attendees, according to Nielsen syncing up with the age of 62% of TikTok users, and the feed prioritizing engagement rate over the number of followers, the main difference will be who has cut through this year. Traditional glam shots under the famed Ferris wheel won’t cut it. Now the app allows for live streams and its newlyminted quick, disappearing ‘Stories’, the stage is set for this year’s Coachella to be documented on TikTok like never before.
Between music enjoying rising social importance and our post-pandemic world, live events matter more than ever, (2022 is being dubbed 'summer of love' because of the return of festivals), the stage is set for a festival season like no other. Not got a ticket? Don’t worry, thumb your way through TikTok to never miss a beat.
Read more in Seen Connects' 2022 Trend Report here.
