Transforming festival culture by making lasting connections
Absolut Vodka is redefining the role brands can play in festivals, moving beyond traditional sponsorships to create engaging, meaningful experiences that resonate with younger audiences.
We caught up with Gui Pasculli, Global Head of Partnerships at The Absolut Company, to discuss how Absolut Vodka is partnering with festivals as platforms to foster long-term brand loyalty.
Why are festivals so important to Absolut Vodka?
Festivals have always been central to spirit activations because they drive consumption and bring people together around drink, music and friends. Over time, we’ve evolved our festival partnerships to be more than just a commercial play.
We want to create narratives and storytelling opportunities that are unique to the Absolut Vodka brand. We use festivals to meaningfully connect with fans and offer experiences beyond the product, inviting them to engage with our brand through brand experiences.
Over the past decade, we have seen an opportunity to build a strong, long-standing relationship with Tomorrowland into something that works for us. It has evolved from a sponsorship to a partnership focused on deeper connections through our joint United We Dance platform, from diversity and inclusion to addressing trends such as loneliness.
Are some festivals better suited to Absolut Vodka’s brand strategy than others?
Definitely. That’s a key factor in choosing where we collaborate. Traditional sponsorships, such as paying for logo placement alone, no longer work for us. In the past, this was the only way to do many big events.
Some 96 per cent of global consumers say having new experiences is a key factor in attending live music events. We want to be part of festivals where activations enable us to truly collaborate and deliver something unique to consumers. Festivals that are too rigid or only want traditional sponsorship are less interesting to us, because our goal is to elevate the consumer experience and offer something new that only Absolut can deliver, not just to drive brand awareness.
Now, with the rise of creators, influencers and new social channels, a logo alone is not enough to be part of festivals – you can offer more as a brand.
How do you decide which festivals are the right fit?
Our strategy is always evolving to address constantly changing consumer needs. Initially, our focus was on bringing people together, especially after Covid, when we were keen to reconnect and to crave festival experiences again. We have seen big festivals bounce back – the music festival market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 24% from 2024 to 2031, driven by immersive experiences and diverse lineups, according to Ticketfairy, the event platform.
We have invested more in Tomorrowland for its edginess and fandoms. It was a pioneer of electronic dance music (EDM) culture and has expanded across the globe, from Brazil to Thailand. We have grown with it. Although this has gained momentum post-Covid, we also experimented with smaller, local, or virtual activations, such as a partnership with Boiler Room during the pandemic, to reach different audiences online.
At the global level, we choose festivals that align with our brand strategy: those that help us foster connections and build brand equity. We want to go beyond traditional sponsorship to build lasting brand attributes.
Which festival activations work best, and which don’t?
Because we have been working with Tomorrowland for a decade, they can open doors to our ideas and understand how we can add value to the experience. Activations that enable real collaboration and creative expression work best because we understand each other.
For example, this year, Tomorrowland agreed with our idea of bringing in designer Yinka Ilori to create a unique installation for us that reflects movement and dance. It is the first time the festival has allowed an artist to do this. This kind of creative freedom sets our brand apart and gives festival-goers a distinct experience.
We always aim to create activations that resonate both in person and online.
The live, in-person experience is key for under-30s, even in a digital age when social content is highly valued. Younger consumers stick with brands that deliver surprising, meaningful experiences – and our research shows that those most impressed will recommend us to others, with a 26 per cent uplift in brand recommendation.
It’s also crucial that these experiences are shareable on social media, so we always aim to create activations that resonate both in person and online, ensuring global engagement beyond the festival itself.
How do festivals help Absolut Vodka build long-term brand loyalty?
Festivals like Tomorrowland, if well executed, can drive both sales through festival glass-in-hand (more than half a million drinks served only in Tomorrowland Belgium), special edition products and long-term brand equity.
While commercial opportunities are important (we are the official vodka of Tomorrowland), our focus is on building ongoing relationships with consumers. We want to be part of their experiences and want them to feel close to the Absolut brand, one that is part of their space or their fandom.
Limited-edition bottles, for example, help keep the brand top of mind and deepen loyalty beyond a one-time purchase, and they can be sold around the events and cities that are not necessarily hosting the event directly, such as Global Travel Retail (GTR), to keep that engagement going beyond the main Belgian festival.
How do you measure the success of a festival activation?
We use a mix of pre- and post-event surveys as well as Prime to measure equity growth and evolve our metrics each year. The top priority is to be the first brand people associate with Tomorrowland. Are we providing a better experience, or are we being seen as a cooler brand, for instance?
We track how activations increase closeness between the brand and consumers and collaborate with Tomorrowland on research to ensure our efforts are resonating. This ongoing evaluation helps us continually improve our approach and deepen connections with festival-goers, while confirming Absolut’s place in the festival.
Ongoing evaluation helps us continually improve our approach and deepen connections with festival-goers.
How do you promote responsible drinking at festivals?
We integrate responsible-drinking messages across our festival activations. For example, at Tomorrowland, we promote Pernod Ricard’s “Drink More Water” message by distributing water, sometimes in branded cans, within our bars and across the festival via carts. We’re always looking for ways to make these initiatives more visible and clearly associated with Absolut and Pernod Ricard, so festival-goers recognise our commitment.
Where does Coachella fit in your festival strategy?
Coachella is our flagship US partnership and a key part of our global festival strategy. It’s unique for its cultural influence and allows us to tap into a major cultural event and moment with a different profile from Tomorrowland.
The festival has a different profile now. Today, Coachella is as much about culture, fashion and creators as it is about music, making it an incredibly powerful platform for content, storytelling and reaching audiences in culturally relevant ways, which aligns with our ambitions.
How important are social media and influencers to Absolut Vodka’s festival strategy?
Influencers are crucial because they provide credibility and an authentic voice. It’s their content, not just brand messaging from Absolut Vodka, that matters. They present content in a more unbiased way. If they like what we do, they’re going to say good things about us. If they don’t like it, they won’t.
It’s important for us to provide the best environment for them to capture and elevate their content – 94% of global consumers are willing to post about shows on social media. This not only amplifies our reach but also allows local perspectives to be seen on a global stage through the lenses of influencers in markets like India.
At events like Coachella, we involve a variety of creators from different backgrounds to generate buzz, particularly when launching new products or innovations.
Influencers are crucial because they provide credibility and an authentic voice.
What is the long-term vision for Absolut Vodka’s presence and impact at festivals?
Our vision is to remain relevant to consumers and elevate festival experiences by consistently offering something unexpected and meaningful. Again, the stats back this up – 96% of global consumers say having new experiences is a key factor in attending live music, according to Live Nation, 2025.
Over the past five years, we’ve shifted from simply sponsoring activations to focusing on building unique experiences and messaging around diversity, inclusion and deeper topics like loneliness. As long as festivals matter to consumers, we want Absolut Vodka to be present in new and engaging ways. Globally, festivals are still growing, especially in emerging markets like China, India and Thailand. We’re expanding our presence accordingly, for example, with our first Tomorrowland Thailand activation at the end of this year, reflecting the festival’s increasing importance in different regions.
