The real winners of Coachella 2026

0:15Hello guys, this is stylish the podcast for all things fashion, lifestyle, brand and beauty. My name is Rhiannon Joyce and today my co-hosts are Joanna Fleming and Naima Fatima. Hello. Hi. New trio unlocked. Yeah. New trio unlocked. I just realised. Yeah. As I sat down, I was like, wait, I actually haven't recorded with the both of you before. New combination. This is also my first time doing a Wednesday intro. How did I go? Amazingly. Thank you so much. I have to say, Naima's skin looks literally airbrushed from here. Glowing. I touched up before I came in. What foundation are you wearing? wearing oh my god aggressive i'm not wearing a foundation but i just put on the rare beauty blush and that does a lot it's like a really bright pink color okay that distracts from everything else so she's just perfect okay so you have no other products on your face right now uh and except okay yeah the merit beauty stick under my eyes the merit beauty stick is very good yeah it is very good but wow okay so she's just naturally beautiful all right I don't know how to respond to that, guys.

1:22But thank you. Thank you. Well, I have a little update for you from a previous episode from a couple of weeks ago. So our listeners might remember we touched on the Jo Malone London situation. So to recap for those that didn't hear it, Estee Lauder Companies was taking legal action against Jo Malone CBE. So Jo Malone, the person. At the time that we recorded that episode, Jo Malone herself hadn't responded to that legal action and that news that was announced. But the other day, maybe a couple of days ago, she posted a statement via Instagram, which now has almost 2 million views. And in that video, she said that she's very surprised and sad and that they've gone above and beyond to ensure that the Zara fragrances weren't associated with Jo Malone London.

2:05Like they did all the things that they thought they were meant to do, essentially. and I touched on in that episode that when we were arranging Jo Loves at Adore Beauty that it was very specifically stipulated you had to say Jo Malone CBE. Anyway so she said like why now after seven years of partnering with Zara have Estee Lauder companies decided to bring this to court essentially. She said that she's going to defend her position in court but she hopes that cents will prevail and that they'll be able to find a way to work in the same market. So yeah we'll see what happens there but I just thought I'd give you a little update because we did say we'd stay across it.

2:39So I thought it was worth flagging. It's an interesting one. We did go into depth about everything that was going on in our previous episode, but for it to be seven years after and it then be a problem is really interesting. I had assumed at the time that there'd been a packaging change. I was like, oh, they must have updated the packaging and the wording. And that's where Estée Lauder have clocked it and been like, actually, no, that's not going to work for us. But the fact that she didn't flag that in her response makes me think, oh, it's actually been the same for seven years. Yeah, it's been longstanding.

3:08Yeah, and they've just suddenly gone, mm, nah. Yeah, it's bizarre. Maybe it was just at the bottom of someone's to-do list. You know? They finally got to it. Got to it. Thanks for the update, Jo. All right, guys, today we're discussing all things Coachella. We have to. We have to talk about Coachella. It's absolutely dominating the piece. Sorry, Bieber-chella. Bieber-chella or Sabrina-chella. Whatever side you sit on. The outfits, the activation, the billboards. We've got a lot to get through when it comes to the Coachella content. And then we're going to be chatting about Anna Wintour and Meryl Streep's Vogue cover.

3:41When I logged on Instagram and this went live, it was literally every second story re-shared on my feed. It was everywhere. We even shared it on the stylish socials. It's more than a cover, though. There's a bit to get to when it comes to how it actually came about and what it actually means. And we're going to deepen that a bit later. But first, guys, it's time for the swap. Who's going first? Well, you're sitting in Annika's seat. Me? So yeah, as the original cast member, I'm going to say, Rie, you go first. Okay, mine is a podcast episode. You guys know I adore Emma Grade and I love her podcast, Aspire.

4:15I did recently listen to the episode that featured Bobbi Brown. So kind of similar vein to the conversations we were having around Jo Malone, Bobbi Brown actually sold her name rights and her namesake brand to Estee Lauder for, I can't even remember what it was sold for, but I think it was over a billion dollar valuation at the time. So this episode is really good because Bobbie actually goes into detail about what actually happened at Estee Lauder. She had a non-compete in place. Then she went and started Jones Road, which is also on its way to be a billion dollar brand. She started at 63. And I will say in this episode, she dishes some major tea.

4:52She doesn't name names, but she goes into some pretty decent detail around the relationship breakdown, how she kind of came out of that. Also, guys, she's just a gritty, scrappy woman. Yeah. So the NDA is expired as well. The NDA is definitely expired, but the way she talks about how she builds is really interesting and really refreshing, particularly for someone at her age who has such a wealth of experience. I will say she doesn't really shit on Estee Lauder company. She talks a lot about like what she actually learned under that umbrella of like such a big brand, even though she was the face of it.

5:26She says she learned so much, but yeah, It's one of the best episodes I've listened to for a while, but I just really love that she's still a scrappy person when it comes to business and how she gets shit done. Worth a listen. I used to do it twice. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. So crazy. Yeah. Who's going next? Now we're all looking at each other. Go on. Okay. I've got a Coachella themed swap. I watched the Cat's Eye live stream on Saturday. This was most of my weekend, to be perfectly honest with you. I was on YouTube. I was watching all the sets and I watched the Cat's Eye one. if anyone doesn't know they are a girl group and they came out of the Netflix TV show Dream Academy and they like essentially built this girl group in like an audition round and they like filmed the whole thing.

6:10What's the original show that's like that? It's like um yeah X Factor. Yeah it's like yeah this is like a new round X Factor. Like a Netflix version. Yeah but what they've put in is like the principles of like K-pop so they've like they're fully trained in like dance, singing, like the girls in it are incredible. The reason I wanted to talk about Lara Raj, who's one of the members, is because she is half Indian, half Sri Lankan, and she is just so cool. Like she is a pop star through and through. After I watched this set, I was on her Instagram and I was just like, every outfit, every post she makes, I was like, you are just like the embodiment of a pop star.

6:51And I don't know if I've really seen that from a lot of brown girls. So I I was like, this is so cool. I really, like I was looking at how she did her makeup and I was like, oh, I want to do my makeup like that now. But yes, all of her outfits, her makeup, she's just cool. She's just cool. I think they're all really cool. Yeah. That song is so catchy. Yeah. I can't even remember what it's called. It's like bap, bap, bap. Yeah.

7:15We needed Maddie here. I know. But it's just like everyone jumping up and down. It's like very boppy. I'm like, how are you dancing so much and singing? It's so impressive. Honestly. The cardio fitness is something else. They were featured a lot in Best Dress List that I looked at on Vogue and a few of the websites for the Coachella Weekend. They've got some serious style and I feel that they're on a really, really strong trajectory of fame. Jo? My swap is probably one of the most random ones I've ever done, but it's actually a card game. I've been very into board games of late because I've been trying to stay off my phone.

7:49So I've been very into things that, like, keep me away from my phone being on social media. So Adrian bought a version of Uno that I wasn't about at the time. I was like, why couldn't you just buy the regular version? You always have to do something different. Like, why did you buy Uno Flip? I didn't even know you could buy other versions. Yeah, so there are other versions of it. There's a version called Uno Flip and I am a convert. It is so good. I'm back at 100%. I did not expect anyone in the room to have played it. No, I love Uno Flip. I literally have no idea what it is. Tell me what it is.

8:18Okay. So Uno Flip is like regular Uno on one side and then the other side of the cards is like a completely different game. So you get a whole different set of colours and there's like also different prompts as well. So you have a whole different set of moves that you can do. And like new rules and... Well, kind of, yeah. So you could be playing the regular game and then you have a flip card and someone can go flip and then you turn, like we say in my family, Flippy Whippy, and then you turn it over. Really? Yeah, you turn it over and then you've got a whole new set of cards. So you could think you're winning and be like, oh, I've got the best cards and then someone pulls a Flippy Whippy.

8:50Spanner. Yeah. And so you're basically starting again. And I think it just makes the game so much more exciting and you can just go for longer, I feel. Keeps everyone on edge. Yeah. I would hate that because if I was winning and then I got a flippy whippy or. Yeah. That's the good part. Really throws this batter in, yeah. Because then you might be down and then you're like, no, I'm back up. Oh, no, I'm so happy that you've played it before. I take it to the pub. I love taking it with my friends and we just play. The other one that's very, very good is Monopoly Deal. Okay. So. Fun fact, I've never played Monopoly and Adrian's just bought it so that I can learn how to play.

9:26Monopoly deal is easier because it's a card version. Okay. So you don't have to pull out like a whole board game situation. So it's good for when you're like traveling with friends or like, you know, then you can just have it in your bag, pull it out. Righto. Here we go. Well, that might be a future swap. I'm a Cluedo gal. So when they bring out a card version of Cluedo, let me know. Cluedo flip. Yeah. Noted. We also have a remote swap from Arnica today too. So we're going to play that now. Something came. saying, which was very big on the runways, was the pillbox hats trend. Now, I honestly thought at the spring racing carnival last year, we would have seen so many more outfits finished with the little pillbox hats, but there weren't actually that many.

10:04So I'm anticipating we're going to see more coming into Australian shores soon, especially thinking about how this trend originated from the 19th century as military headgear. And then Jackie Kennedy made them super famous in the 60s as well. I think the trend was perceived once quite modest, but now it's an absolute trend because it's elegant, simple and incredibly chic. I love this swap because I'm noticing this a lot in Bridal Fashion Week. Yes. At the back of New York Bridal Week. Yeah. That's so chic. Yeah. I'm noticing it being like the go-to headpiece now in replacement of a veil. So many girls on the runway were rocking the little pillbox hat.

10:41Yes. I also saw Magnolia Ave release one recently. So it's probably playing out in the bridal space. I haven't seen much in the autumn, winter, everything that's coming out thus far. I haven't really seen it. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see how that trickles through. So cool for a hens. Yes. Yes. Like with a suit. Anyway, I'm going into it. That's very Jackie Kennedy. Very Jackie Kennedy. Next, we're going to be discussing all things Coachella or Bebichella. But that will be right after a word from today's sponsor. We all know a woman who manages to hold it all together and look chic doing it.

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12:17Coachella obviously kicked off first weekend. Major headlines, Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter, so many more. But I feel those are the two that absolutely dominated the feed. I would say Coachella has become known as like the it place to be seen if you're an influencer. I saw a few TikToks actually labeling it the Influencer Olympics. So people getting really creative with that. It's really focusing on the aspiring content creators both in the lead up to it and over the weekend. I saw a lot of influences from Australia also traveling over this year. I feel like in the last two or three years, there's been a bit more of that.

12:51Usually it's been predominantly US focused, but I'm seeing people from all over the world travel. Something I also noticed last week in the lead up to Coachella though, that I found really interesting and I want to talk about, particularly in the States. So this feels more localized in the US than what it does here. So maybe this is like very niche to my algorithm, them. But a lot of micro influencers were actually pitching to brands to take them to Coachella. So they were doing the full PowerPoint presentation and all about why they should be there. I loved it. Same. I thought it was so cutie, especially because it was coming from people who probably aren't on the top of the radar when it comes to, you know, these brand activations and these huge, huge brands activating at Coachella who are taking more established influences.

13:34I'm like, shoot your shot yeah 100 shoot your shot I think it's so cool because a lot of the time I guess brands look at ROI of like a really big influencers because they've got more followers but when it's a micro influencer their community gets behind them in a way that is just different like I actually think it would be really smart for brands to take micro influencers because not only would their community get behind it sometimes like all of TikTok gets behind it because they're just so excited for the small guy. I actually think it would be a really good branding moment. Did we see any that did a pitch that actually ended up going?

14:08I saw one girl who did a pitch. She was already attending, so had tickets, but she didn't have any accommodation lined up. And then she ended up getting hooked up by like Hilton. So she got like a four-year experience and everything. I did see her. So that was cool. I was really happy for her. I was like, go off, girl. And then she documented the whole experience. It felt really organic. And to your point, everyone was really rallying behind her. Her whole community was just so happy that she had this added experience. But I will say majority of my feed was very much dominated by brands who were taking a lot of like larger high profile influences.

14:41But that was not it was nice to see that creep through with my feed. Yeah. Well, it's like following the journey of getting there. Yeah, exactly. Anyone who got there and it was like they shot their shot, they would have over delivered in a way. Like I think in a lot of contracts, it's like specific amounts that you have to post. If I was going and I'd like shot my shot and it was the week before, I would be posting every second. You'd want to be posting as well because you're just so happy and so excited to be there. But yeah, it was like a nice little thing to see. I really enjoyed it. But the main focus I really want to talk about today is the brand activations at Coachella because I would say in the last two years, this has really supercharged.

15:18It feels like it is becoming a huge commercial event. In its origin, Coachella was more focused on the music and most festivals were back in the day. Now a lot of festivals are really evolving into these brand marketing moments. You know, it used to be about how do we create music experiences across different genres. Now it's very much, okay, how are brands showing up in this space? Not even just at the festival itself, but on the way to the festival and in the surrounding areas. I want to start with the billboards first because more so this year than any other year, I saw a lot of brands sharing creative of the billboards that they actually purchased along the way to Coachella.

15:58But then I also saw a lot of brands hijacking these moments and using that marketing adjacent tactic and super imposing or using AI on the billboards to make it look like that they were part of the Coachella experience. What did you guys see? I feel like the last few years, it's always been more around the artist billboards. Like, you know, it's a bit of an activity that people drive out the weekend before or like the week before and like go along the highway and like take photos of it so they can like share it beforehand and it's like first look of the billboards and I feel like the last few years it's always been more artist space and like the artists have really dominated that this year I felt like my feed online was a lot of that photoshopped you know they weren't actually there but they created the illusion that they were yeah definitely capitalized off the hype yeah although they don't get the shareability of the people that are actually posting that are driving along that highway on their way to Coachella.

16:52So you get the reach of your own social media channels, but not necessarily the kind of coverage that you would want. Okay. So there were a lot of billboards. What billboards were your favorite? This one's not a real one, but maybe I'll give you a real one. Give me a real one first and then we'll talk about the fakies. I loved Sabrina Carpenters. It was so her and it was like a very specific, it showed exactly what her show was going to be. So it had like the theme of like the 1950s, 50s and she was going to be like a showgirl and like it was Hollywood and it kind of like preempted what the whole concept of her actual show was going to be and I really liked that through line.

17:29Do you know what's interesting? I don't know what one you're talking about. I did not see the Sabrina Carpenter one. Is that the one with Redken? No it was sorry this is an artist only one. Artist only. I did not see that. It's so funny how you see different things pop up because all I saw was the major laser or Zempick one which you also sent Jo. That's my favorite one. Yeah. is the Major Lazer artist one, which was like iMessage bubble. And it said, come shake that little Ozempic ass 6pm Sunday at Major Lazer. Very playful. Very funny. Yeah. My favourite branding one was Ollipop and Good Wipes.

18:03And they did a little play on words, obviously, with Justin Bieber headlining. It was just in case your peaches get too dusty. And it was an ad for flushable wipes. I love that. There's nothing better than a contextually relevant creative messaging on a billboard. That is like chef's kiss. Yeah, I liked that. This time of year, this ad space would be hot property. Obviously, there would be allocations that are probably reserved for artists or they're getting access through the studios for those sites. And the studios are probably paying the fees on those locations. But for the brand allocated sites, huge premiums would apply for this period because they know that there's a lot of shareability.

18:37They know that people are going to be taking photos of the site, hoping that it's shareable on socials. Creative pressure is on. Yeah. And I want to talk about the creative of an out of home billboard. And I'm going to nerd out a little bit here because out of home is my background. On the record, we know from a recent study that ORE Media actually did, there is a 41 % increase in ROI if the creative is really strong. So it is the backbone of out of home. If you can't get that creative right, it is not landing. And when it comes to Coachella, I feel like brands go that extra mile to make sure that there is that relevancy in terms of the connection to the desert or the connection to, you know, the shows or the people who were performing, that example you just gave, there's a likelihood that if it was just like a generic ad, you just would not have remembered it because it had the contextual alignment, one, to the desert experience of being at a festival, but two, also having the hook and tie to Justin Bieber makes that really memorable and makes you go, oh, that's funny.

19:32Yeah. And you probably wouldn't if you hadn't worked in Out of Home, which refers to billboards and, you know, bus stops and things like that. You wouldn't realize that there's a massive psychological element when it comes to deciding on that creative as well, like the colours chosen, the text chosen, the imagery chosen, how it's positioned on the billboard. You don't think of all of these things, but there really is such a huge psychological play with getting you to actually look at something and digest it. Especially with static. I feel like everything is digital and everything you're just switching off.

20:00It's really an opportunity to cut through. I absolutely love it. And I was so happy to see so many brands use it to their advantage. I wish with the Zempic one, they had said not delivered. Like, I feel like that would have really tied in the whole festival experience. Like the message was actually green, not blue. Green, not delivered. Like, you know. So true. When you got to Coachella, it was like serious, serious brand activations were rolling out. Every corner. Every corner. It felt like everything was branded. Yeah. What were the branded activations that really stood out to you guys? I really liked the Gap Hoodie House.

20:35I saw this. That was clever. Yeah. So I think this really played into like the human experience of going to a festival. And like what I know is that Coachella is boiling hot during the day but apparently freezing at night, like really, really, really cold because it's a desert. And what is the like festival experience? You go to a festival and you're like, no, I'll be fine, and then you're freezing. Yeah. And having somewhere where you can buy like an exclusive hoodie or like a zip-up hoodie and you can customise it and it says Coachella, perfect. I think it's so cool. I really liked Alex Earl Real Actives giving everyone branded portable chargers, I think.

21:15Genius. I didn't see that either. Yeah, and people had them stuck to the, what are they called, the Octobuddies. Octobuddies, yeah. So everyone holding their phone had their portable chargers and it had Real Actives on it. Oh, smart. What do you need at a festival? A portable charger. The one that saturated my feed the most was the 818 Outpost. Yes. I saw a lot of 818. I honestly couldn't even, I don't have time in this episode to list how many sponsors or like pop-up brands were within that outpost. You had all of the Kardashian brands, like Lemmy were there, Cloud, Salt and Stone, Rode, all of these different brands were activating in some way.

21:52So the 818 outpost actually was covered by People Brands and Things, which is a very popular Instagram profile. We've probably mentioned it several times on this podcast, but they covered the behind the scenes of how this event comes together across their socials and their sub stack, which just shows you how intense this process is of combining all of these different sponsors and making sure the event goes off without a hitch and that you haven't forgotten a single detail. It's actually really interesting if you want to go and look at the behind the scenes of, you know, what happens in this world to bring this event together.

22:25It's yeah, worth a look. I thought it was interesting that Rode did a little mini pop up within the 818 Outpost because they had their own separate pop-up, which I think was only on day two by the looks of it. Was it? Yeah. I think they sent out stuff on day one. Day one. But the actual pop-up was on day two. Yes. Which I actually, it wasn't saturating my feed as much as the 818. And then when I started looking for the content, that's when I started seeing all of the influencers that were invited, you know, posting about their experiences there. And look, it was pretty well done, I thought. They had a bar, they had little games like darts, you could win kids, the claw machine.

23:03They had a makeup touch-up station so you could actually get out of the heat because it looked like it was really hot on day two as well. And they had a DJ. There was a few creators that posted about there being a line to take a mirror selfie. I saw the video of that as well. Yeah, there was like a mirror that was shaped in the Rode R, but it looked like it was pretty well done. I just thought it was interesting that they would also activate in a separate area of the festival as well. Yeah. Cause then it was like a ride to get in. Yeah. Like it wasn't like on site. So you had to like go separately and then like make your way into the festival as well.

23:37Which I thought was interesting. Road were all over my feed. I love Justin Bieber and I love Hayley and I love that crossover and the intersection of their two worlds coming together at Coachella. It felt like a really good execution. I think it was so smart that they did the collab as well leading into it. Apparently all the stock went on sale the day that Justin Bieber was performing. Like everything was super strategic, well-timed. It felt like the perfect amalgamation of both of their brands coming together. I love the little mushrooms as well. Felt like mushrooms. I've got to call out the elephant in the room.

24:10There is a connotation here to elicit substances being mushrooms, right? Yeah. And the way that they're physically showing up is these cutie little pop-up toys and fun things that people are then playing on in a brand capacity but I feel like there is a subtle nod there and maybe I'm over maybe I'm reading into this a bit too much. Well that billboard was also just little mushrooms. Little mushrooms as well and I'm just is there something there? Can I say? Marie's looking around for reassurance but it's like oh. I don't know it seems to me that there is just this reoccurring theme of mushrooms that I'm noticing.