Dark truth about Coachella brand houses and activations… as festival snitches name and shame influencers

Forget about Coachella headliners. The music festival in Indio, California, may as well be called the Influencer Olympics, for it has increasingly become a battle of content creators – who are all vying for the attention of their millions of doting fans.

During the first weekend, hundreds of influencers descended on the desert for a lavish stay at their brand-sponsored accommodations, freebies from elaborate gifting suites and exclusive parties thrown by celebrities and corporate companies alike.

Dressed from head-to-toe in luxe festival wear, toting neon-colored Chanel purses and sporting vintage skirts and jackets sourced by stylists they paid thousands for, the creators documented their experience for their eager followers back home.

Cameras in hand, they filmed themselves singing along in the artist section to Justin Bieber’s performance or mingling among the A-list crowd.

But before the festivities officially began, they kicked off the weekend by showcasing their over-the-top digs for the weekend, courtesy of the brands hosting them in Indio. The company-sponsored lodgings tended to be multi-room mansions that were completely transformed into a haven for said brands.

In the first weekend alone, there were influencers sponsored by Starbucks, Poppi, fashion brand Guess, Tarte Cosmetics, Magnum Ice Cream and Alix Earle’s new skincare line, Reale Actives.

Eric Croak, a certified financial planner and accredited wealth management advisor, estimates that some of these brands spent up to $3 million on their activations at the desert festival. 

‘The economics break down differently than you might think,’ Croak, who is the president of Croak Capital, told the Daily Mail.

‘When brands are spending between $500,000 to $3 million on a house at Coachella, they’re looking at earned media value, organic social reach and long-tail UGC (user-generated content) where the CPM (cost per mille) can easily be $2 to $8 (versus $15 to $50+ on creators and boosted social posts).’

While it may seem over the top, he said these influencer houses can prove to be extremely valuable for the brands at large. 

‘Influencer houses are almost never a waste of money for brands to sponsor, and the folks saying they are often applying direct-response ROI models to what is truly a brand-building and earned-media initiative,’ he added.

Now, the Daily Mail has ranked the extravagant content houses of Coachella…

1. Jake Shane’s ‘estate’ and Micky Gordon’s ‘Mickmansion’ from Poppi

One of the hottest influencer houses was sponsored by the prebiotic soda company Poppi and, as it turns out, it was a hard ticket to score. The brand only invited two influencers into the compounds – along with ten of their closest friends.

The brand turned two houses into creator-themed oases for their sponsored influencers – podcaster Jake Shane, who boasts four million followers on TikTok alone, and content creator Micky Gordon, who clocks over one million followers on the social media platform.

‘For newer brands like Poppi or Olipop, activations like these help buy culture that traditional paid media cannot buy,’ Croak told the Daily Mail.

‘That’s part of the reason why you see prebiotic soda brands with billion-dollar valuations built partly off of this strategy.’

Poppi branded Jake’s house as the ‘Jake Estate,’ while Micky’s was called the ‘Mickmansion,’ and each house was totally transformed to fit each of their own personal brands. There were custom neon signs emblazoned with their names, huge metal sculptures in the shapes of cherries and the house was covered in Poppi-themed posters.

In both, the lucky tenants were gifted obscene amounts of elaborate merchandise – that cost a pretty penny.

Lucky guests received neon red suitcases and tote bags from Shay Mitchell’s BÉIS luggage line, which typically go for over $250. On each bag, there were plush keychains in the shape of Poppi drinks.

But of course, that’s just the start of the gifting. Each guest also received a pair of custom Poppi-branded pajamas and hoodies, Juicy Couture sweatsuits, and soft, custom bathrobes with their names embroidered on all of them.

To get extra cozy at night, the house also provided slippers in the shape of Poppi cans, Lola Blankets, which can cost over $400, and luxurious skincare and bath products from high-end brands like Sofie Pavitt Face, which sells a $64 moisturizer.

There was an endless supply of Poppi, too, as the brand provided guests with cans in every flavor you could imagine – plus branded pool floats in the shape of a Poppi can in the house’s ginormous swimming pools. 

2. The scandal-ridden Starbucks house 

An over-the-top house that sparked backlash this weekend was that of billion-dollar coffee corporation Starbucks, which hosted a handful of popular content creators.

Guests included Sophia and Alexia Umansky, daughters of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards, as well as Victoria Paris, a content creator with two million followers, and Brandon Edelman, who comes in with over 1.4 million on TikTok.

The house featured Starbucks-themed posters plastered on the walls, green furniture, a custom, fully staffed coffee bar and a Starbucks-branded photo booth.

The mansion was also littered with fridges that held Starbucks’ bottled drinks, like their Mocha Frappuccino Coffee.

Each guest’s room was decked out with freebies, too, such as custom-embroidered pajamas, a Starbucks tote bag filled with items like their viral teddy bear cup, and custom blankets decorated with their names.

While it may seem like household names such as Starbucks wouldn’t need to shell out a fortune for influencer marketing, according to Croak, it’s still necessary. In fact, he said brands that are more well-known may have a more difficult time building virality. 

Cue: content houses.

‘For brands that have already reached peak awareness like Starbucks or Guess, the additional reach doesn’t cut as deep, so the conversation around ROI is more about maintaining shelf space and proving to Gen Z that your brand still has cultural cachet,’ Croak said.

‘That’s harder to value, but is very real when it comes to the ledger of brand equity.’

The house, however, did not come without its fair share of controversy.

Some fans were disappointed in certain creators for aligning with the brand, and many called out creators staying in the Starbucks house because of the company’s $1 billion restructuring plan, which resulted in many employees getting laid off.

Edelman, who goes by @bran__flakezz online, specifically caught heat for his participation in the brand trip. He had previously claimed that he turns down brands that don’t align with his beliefs, but his stint in the Starbucks abode prompted his followers to declare he had ‘sold out.’

‘Ahhhh so we pretend to care about people until the big corporations give YOU freebies. Understood,’ one person commented on his TikTok video showing a tour of the house.

3. Agua de Kefir’s house brimming with reality TV stars

Agua de Kefir, a probiotic water brand, went a bit of a different route this Coachella, inviting cast members from seasons six and seven of Love Island USA to their desert house.

Stars such as Kaylor Martin, Kendall Washington, Iris Kendall, Hannah Fields, TJ Palma, Jeremiah Brown and Andreina Santos stayed at the house the first weekend of the festival, enjoying the retro-themed lodgings.

Nearly everything in the mansion was branded – including Agua de Kefir pillows, Agua de Kefir coolers and even decorated the walls with custom sticker decals of the brand name.

Each reality star received a selection of gifts in a custom trunk, stuffed to the brim with products that included skincare from cosmetic brand Mario Badescu, Havaianas flip flops, Amika haircare and Lesser Evil Popcorn – items that totaled hundreds of dollars.

The brand also threw a party at their house, with Love Island season seven cast member Nic Vansteenberghe behind the DJ booth.

They invited high-profile influencers to the bash, like Barstool’s Brianna ‘Chickenfry’ LaPaglia, Hallie Batchelder and Secret Lives of Mormon Wives reality star Chase McWhorter.

4. Be Love’s Birkin gift bags

Be Love, a brand of electrolyte drinks that are sold in big-box retail stores like Target, treated their influencers to an equally extravagant weekend.

Guests who stayed in their house, like influencer Lauren Wolfe, who has over 1.3 million followers on TikTok, were treated to an array of expensive gifts, which included a canvas tote bag in the shape of an Hermès Birkin. The bags also had patches in theme with the drink brand sewn on them.

They also gave their content creators a pink $55 jump rope from fancy fitness brand Bala, and a $94 yoga mat from Stakt.

Of course, like many of the other content houses, Be Love also branded the multi-room mansion with themed pool floats, towels, hoodies and hats.

5. Magnum Ice Cream’s private villas

Where other brands gave influencers the keys to a mega mansion for the weekend, Magnum Ice Cream broke from the trend. Instead, the brand’s guests each had their own private villa.

Most notably, the ice cream brand sponsored Brigette Pheloung, known as Acquired Style who boasts over 1.7 million followers on TikTok, as well as various journalists from Cosmopolitan Magazine.

Each guest resided in their own little bungalow, which included a private kitchen with a refrigerator and stove, as well as a living room area.

The house also featured a large swimming pool decorated with ice-cream-shaped pool floats and, of course, Magnum-branded beach towels and pillows. Plus, there was tons of ice cream available to guests all weekend long.

The creators were provided with tons of Magnum swag, like tote bags and water bottles, as well as various products from viral sunscreen brand Vacation and Aesop. 

 6. Guess Jeans compound 

Guess hosted a number of influencers in the desert this weekend, inviting big-time creators like Alisha Marie, who clocks nearly four million followers on social media, and Hailey Sani, who has over one million followers.

The designer brand hosted their influencers in their own ‘compounds’ – private houses that were ornately decorated, complete with marble flooring, a fireplace and a giant kitchen.

Influencers were also treated to Guess clothing, which they sported throughout the weekend.

For meals, they were served food by a private chef and each house had their own individual pool and outdoor space.

And after all of the influencers sang their hearts out at Coachella nights one and two, they were treated to a ‘recovery’ day, which included complimentary IV hydration bags, massages and matcha from celebrity favorite La La Land Cafe. 

Honorable mention: The star-studded activations

While they didn’t sponsor their own content houses for the weekend, many popular brands used the festival as a marketing opportunity, hosting their own pop-up events in the desert.

Fashion e-commerce site Revolve hosted a slew of celebrities and content creators, calling it the Revolve Festival. Celebrities like Teyana Taylor, Dylan Efron, Damson Idris and girl group KATSEYE all made appearances.

The festival gave away a massive amount of free gifts to their influencers, giving out products like $100 sunglasses from Quay, shoes from Schutz Shoes and Color Wow Hair – just to name a few.

The event also featured activations from many popular brands, like Patron and Pop Sockets and even included a live performance by Kehlani.

Fast-food giant Sonic sponsored the food for the event as well as various pop-up booths from brands like Bloom Nutrition, Hot Girl Pickles and LaCroix water. 

Hailey Bieber’s Rhode Skin was equally extravagant, as she treated fans to her new collection, which is in collaboration with her husband and Coachella headliner Justin Bieber. There, guests received Rhode items as well as supplements from Cymbiotika.

Influencers such as Brigette Pheloung, Robyn DelMonte and Hailey Sani were in attendance, and guests feasted on food from Postmates, including chicken Caesar wraps from LA hotspot Ggiata Delicatessen.

Kendall Jenner’s tequila brand 818 also hosted a pop up, the 818 Outpost, which was attended by sister Kylie.

The tequila brand served up specialty drinks all day, namely espresso martinis, and also gave out samples of Khloé Kardashian’s new Khloud Protein Chips and popcorn.

In addition, influencers were treated to tons of gifting, like custom Hydrojug water bottles with their names engraved on them, items from Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics, and even supplements from Kourtney Kardashian’s Lemme vitamin line.