Revolve Fest: The Festival That Crashed The Festival

How a fashion website claimed ownership of one of the biggest brand weeks of the year

Author

Ali Kaltman
April 07, 2025

Brand: Revolve

Campaign: Revolve Fest

Read time: 5 minutes

💬 Overview 💬

Happy Coachella Week to all who participate!

Every year, a few brands are able to take over the festival and stand out.

And becoming the most talked about brand Coachella weekend is no small feat.

Last year, Poppi bet big on one HUGE activation with Alix Earle & friends (also testing the waters for their bigger investment deal.)

This year, I anticipate a new cohort of brands to come through and make themselves known.

One brand that has always impressed me is Revolve by throwing Revolve Fest.

It is STILL the most talked about festival outside of the main event, and its exclusive nature dominates the internet’s curiosity.

So how did it get so big?

And how did it become the party of all Coachella parties?

Let’s get into it…

💙 The Branded Moment 💙

It started with a problem: Revolve wasn’t invited to Coachella.

Back in 2016, the online fashion retailer realized that while their target customer was dominating Coachella, they didn’t have a seat at the table. Limited brand visibility. A true missed opportunity.

So they built their own table.

Instead of begging to be included, Revolve launched Revolve Festival, a parallel event during Coachella weekend that becomes a showcase of fashion, music, and influencer culture into one massive content engine.

And the bet paid off.

Over the years, it’s become the unofficial influencer Coachella, an invite-only event where the most talked-about looks, activations, and brand collabs happen outside the festival grounds.

So how did they do it?

Revolve took over a private desert compound and transformed it into a branded playground: custom-built stages, lounges, pop-ups, endless photo opps. Every detail is designed for the feed.

They styled nearly every major influencer in curated Revolve looks (often before Coachella even started) ensuring their fashion was front and center across social.

Then, they packed the guest list with names that drive engagement: Alix Earle, Ice Spice, Charli D’Amelio, Shay Mitchell, and hundreds of fashion and lifestyle creators.

And from there? The content machine exploded: GRWMs, festival vlogs, red carpet interviews, Instagram dumps, and, of course, TikToks on TikToks.

Even brand partners were integrated flawlessly like Rhode’s photo booth, 818 Tequila’s bar, and La Croix water stations.

So why does Revolve Festival work so well?

  1. Because they’ve created their own world.

Revolve Festival isn’t an activation; it’s a parallel universe. You don’t need to go to Coachella to feel like you’re part of the moment. If you’re an influencer you can go to Revolve Fest and you’ve done it all.

  1. It dominates the feed.

Because of the exclusive nature of the event, influencers can’t wait to share it, and consumers can’t wait to consume the content.

  1. Their partnerships multiply their brand equity.

By aligning with talent, culture, and other, curated brands, Revolve becomes the face of desert fashion.

Revolve Fest is really about selling a lifestyle through 2 days of massively curated big bets.

💡 Results 💡

The results of Revolve Fest speak for themselves.

The festival has been running since 2016 with no signs of stopping.

This year alone, the event is expected to generate BILLIONS of impressions across social platforms.

Top-tier creators, celebrities, and stylists will soon be flooding feeds with Revolve-tagged content.

Beyond visibility, the brand consistently drives measurable lift in site traffic, sales, and follower growth during and immediately after the weekend.

Revolve turned one of the most important weeks of the year in the marketing world into a brand-owned channel… and they make it look effortless.

🎬 Take Action 🎬

Pick an event and own it. Revolve realized they’d be more effective if they became THE brand of an event vs. a small showing at many events, and it paid off.

Let your customers be the content. Revolve Fest has 0 advertising. The entire content play is through the lens of the guests & the consumers rather than the brand telling everyone else how cool it is.

Go hard on cultural alignment. If there’s an event you feel your brand aligns to best, show up louder and better than anyone else.

Partner up. Revolve brings together the best of the best brands to make this happen. They couldn’t do it alone, and they don’t. These partnerships help establish this event as THE event.

What’s the one cultural moment you would bet big on? How are you going to do it?

What’s New This Week

One new product I tried this week 👉 Chobani Mix-Ins - Yes, these have been around for a while, but this will be my new dessert replacement. Loved it.

One new campaign I’m loving 👉 Chilis x The Office - Nostalgia at its finest.

One new piece of content to watch/follow 👉 Acquired Rolex - Long AF but some amazing branding lessons in there.

Brandkeeping

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it on to 3 marketers you know!

And if you have a brand or campaign you want to spotlight, please reply directly to this newsletter.

Let’s chat!

See ya!

Ali

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