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The Journal

Notes & ideas on brand experience.

Practical guides on experiential marketing, brand activations, and the moments that make a brand impossible to ignore, from our team in Orange County & Los Angeles.

A festival main stage at sunset, lasers over a dense crowd, palm trees against a pink sky
Industry

Nobody Owns the Concert Anymore. This Week Proved It.

A judge is rewriting ticketing, CBGB hired a sponsorship agency, and TikTok started booking festival slots.

4 min read Read the breakdown →
An OpenAI billboard reading “Thinking inside the box?” against a clear sky
Industry

The Judge Said No Breakup. The Machines Won Anyway.

A judge spared Google’s ad tech empire, OpenAI’s ads hit $1B in under 200 days, and automation quietly became the default.

6 min read Read the breakdown →
The 818 Outpost sign and a vintage white convertible on the grass at the Coachella Valley activation
Case Study

818 at Coachella: How One Afternoon Out-Posted the Festival

290 creators, 536 posts, 32 million views, all from an invite-only party. Why the guest list is the media buy.

6 min read Read the case study →
The Summer Fridays pop-up storefront, curtained windows and bistro tables on the sidewalk
Case Study

You Don’t Need a Big Build. You Need a Small Room.

How Summer Fridays runs two-day pop-ups out of borrowed rooms in SoHo, Covent Garden and Coral Gables, and gets lines.

5 min read Read the case study →
Two people in dancer pose in front of a large white Alo logo on a rooftop above Los Angeles
Case Study

Alo Doesn’t Run Pop-Ups. It Runs a Practice.

270 free classes across nine countries in a single day. Why a repeatable hour beats a one-off spectacle.

6 min read Read the case study →
Stacks of waffles on cake stands at the Rhode bakery takeover
Case Study

The Rhode Playbook: How Pop-Ups Became Pilgrimages

How Rhode turned a Sydney bakery takeover and an invite-only Coachella build into moments people lined up for, and what any brand can borrow.

6 min read Read the case study →
A truck built to look like a giant tissue box, offering fans of the losing team a discounted ride home
Case Study

How Brands Are Winning the 2026 World Cup Off the Pitch

From Adidas fan zones to Unilever’s creator hub, how brands ride the World Cup without ever touching the field.

6 min read Read the case study →
A hand lifting a pink POP MART blind box from a stacked display
Case Study

The Labubu Effect: What a Blind-Box Toy Teaches Brands

Scarcity, surprise and celebrity seeding turned a collectible into a status symbol. Here’s how to borrow the mechanics for your own brand.

5 min read Read the case study →
A giant cassette-tape installation at a Kiehl’s festival activation
Playbook

What Is Experiential Marketing? The Complete Guide

What experiential marketing actually is, why it works, and how brands use live moments to build loyalty that ads can’t buy.

8 min read Read the playbook →
Two guests walking out of an orange Aperol Spritz archway, drinks in hand
Playbook

How to Plan a Brand Activation, Step by Step

A practical, seven-step framework for planning a brand activation that people line up for, post about, and actually remember.

9 min read Read the playbook →
A pink Glossier truck parked kerbside, surrounded by buckets of flowers
Playbook

15 Experiential Marketing Ideas People Actually Share

Fifteen activation formats, from pop-ups to brand trips, with what each one is best for and how to make it travel online.

7 min read Read the playbook →
The Activation Playbook, free mini-guide cover
Free mini-guide

Get The Activation Playbook: what actually makes a brand moment land, a realistic timeline, and the questions worth answering before you spend a dollar.

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