Dive Brief:
- Nordstrom is touring festivals such as South by Southwest (SXSW) and other music events with a group of three “pod” pop-up shops that offer beauty products, totes, cell phone charging stations, and a photo booth.
- The pods offer festival attendees a place to get away from the crowds and chaos of a large festival, the department store chain says.
- Nordstrom will stage the pods at the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, Shaky Knees in Atlanta, and BottleRock in Napa later this spring.
Dive Insight:
Nordstrom is touring a set of “pod” pop-up shops to target young festival-goers as part of its “See Anew” campaign. The pods debuted at South by Southwest (SXSW) last week and will continue on to three more music festivals this spring.
Developed by “action marketing” agency OutCold, the three pods offer attendees multiple brand experiences. They can choose to have a photo of their auras interpreted, dress up for a photo booth session and have a tote bag printed, enter a Nordstrom “dream closet” and sweepstakes, or try samples and get a quick makeover at the beauty bar.
Big music festivals are great places to meet younger consumers where they spend time and money. Nordstrom and multiple luxury brands including Neiman Marcus and Jimmy Choo participated in last year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival—a perennial draw not only for millennials, but also Hollywood stars and fashion influencers. H&M is also setting up shop at Coachella with it co-branded collection for women and men.
As we noted before, the music festival scene now influences summer fashion trends as many attendees treat these days-long events as their own personal fashion shows. Associating a brand with that type of style is a good way for a retailer to capture the millennial customer, who tends to spend more now on experiences rather than material objects.
