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Like many people, I didnât go to Coachella this year, but thatâs not going to stop me from having opinions about it.
Unlike those other people, my opinions happen to be backed up by best-in-class creator marketing data, which means that theyâre objectively correct. And hereâs the best part: for the low, low price of reading this free newsletter, my opinions can now be yours! How cool is that?
To clarify: Iâm not weighing in on which festival outfit or musical performance was the best. I am woefully unprepared to answer those sorts of questions, and youâre better off going with your gut, or the approximately thirty million social media posts about these very topics.
My Coachella opinions, on the other hand, have more to do with what all those posts add up toâthe macro-trends within the annual noise. Namely:
If youâre seeking answers to those questions, or if you just want to know which brand did the best job of handing out free swag to people waiting in line for the bathroom, read on!
Because Coachella presents such a treasure trove of data and content, weâre going to keep the event coverage in this newsletter relatively straightforward:
Think of these three sections as the Friday/Saturday/Sunday of the perfect Coachella weekend: ramping up, being in the thick of it, and reflecting on what the weekend meant.
So unpack your bag, mix yourself the perfect marg, apply plenty of sunscreen, and get ready forâŚ
We took a look at Coachella-specific content from Thursday April 9 to Friday April 12 in order to determine the most posted-about brands during the festivalâs opening weekend. Brace yourself: youâre about to see some thoroughly unsurprising names.
Yep, thereâs RHODE Skin soaking up the Bieberchella glory, leading all brands by creator count. Building off its performance as a top brand at Coachella 2025, the skincare favorite cemented its status as a new-school Coachella favorite, besting longtime standby Revolve, at least in this metric (but stay tunedâŚ).
Meanwhile, the creator count leaderboard was rounded out by more relative newcomers to the festival: Kylie Jennerâs 818 Tequila, Kourtney Kardashian Barkerâs Poosh, and HBBIPâs very own recent spotlightee Medicube. Iâm sure Medicubeâs position as one of the hottest skincare brands of 2026 had more to do with this success than HBBIP, but itâs probably just a 60-40 thing. Maybe 55-45.
Still, a definite win for RHODE Skin. Take a victory lap, Hailey! Also, please post our metrics on your Instagram again, like you did last year. Iâm telling you here, in this newsletter that you definitely read, just in case you missed my text.While these brands wonât upset anybodyâs understanding of what Coachella is, much like a non boho-chic outfit at the very bottom of a creatorâs luggage, the data did manage to pack a few surprises.
When we look at post count, the plot thickens! Though RHODE Skin was mentioned by more creators, the small-but-mighty group that Revolve activated ultimately proved more prolific.
Also of note? Medicubeâs dominance. As I saw when I investigated the brand for a full-feature HBBIP spotlight, the people who post about Medicube at all tend to post about it a lot. That held true at Coachella 2026, where Medicube was putting in work as one of the festivalâs breakout brand stars. After all, your skin gets pretty dry in the desertâgotta stay looking fresh somehow.
Now, when we look at engagements the plot really thickens! Weâve got a stew going, people.
At this point, Revolve has been synonymous with Coachella for a long time. Itâs not exactly a surprise to see them at the top of the list for engagements. Rounding out the 1-2 punch of Revolve and RHODE Skin, weâve got YouTube Music, which along with Hailey was probably the biggest beneficiary of Justin Bieberâs clip-heavy, nostalgic headlining set. Barbie, meanwhile, demonstrated that brands with pre-existing cultural capital can always make a big splash, while e.l.f. rounded out the crew as one of Coachellaâs enduringly popular beauty brands.
So those are some of Weekend Oneâs signature names. No surprises, right? But if we go by YoY growth, charting how brands heightened their Coachella presence from 2025 to 2026, new faces enter the villa.
Yep, thatâs Medicube once again staking its claim as 2026âs breakout star. We saw similar growth for RHODE Skin at Coachella 2025, when the brand really emerged as a Coachella staple. In 2027, will we see something similar for Medicube: confirmation that the brand has claimed its place as Coachella royalty?
Beyond Medicube, Secret broke through by partnering with Always "The Refresh Room," a branded experience featuring products, a glitter bar (naturally), restrooms, activities, and more amenities designed to help festivalgoers freshen up. Wavytalk, meanwhile, staked its claim as a festival necessity by virtue of being Coachellaâs signature hair partner, and Rivian, another Coachella partner, captured attention viaâyou guessed itâan immersive experience called Camp Rivian, which included interactive vehicle demos and a range of other exclusive activities.
No wonder anyone paid attention to the music, tbh. If I were there, I too would be focused solely on the merch.
When we look at Weekend One YoY growth for impressions (or engagements, since the list is pretty much the same), we find T-Mobile breaking throughâbig year for telecommunications!âalong with further affirmation for some of our recurring names.
One name I havenât shouted out yet that deserves some shine is Agua De Kefir. After maintaining a limited presence at Coachella 2025, the probiotic water brand (itâs right there in the name) demonstrated how smaller, niche brands can punch above their weight at Coachella 2026. During Weekend One, Agua De Kefir generated 1.4M engagements from just 20 posts, largely fueled by culturally relevant creator partnerships with Love Island stars, which naturally sparked some pretty substantial viral amplification. Itâs further proof that brands can win the Coachella game by tapping into pre-existing cultural narratives (we see you, Barbie), and by treating the whole thing as a reality show, which it basically is.
Alright, so thatâs Weekend One! Phew. Take a breather. Go to an immersive refreshment experience. Or, if youâre a plebe, just take a nap. And when youâre ready, join me atâŚ
First things first: if Weekend One is the big splash, then Weekend Two is when you lounge by the pool. The creators are fewer, the metrics are smaller, but there are still some interesting narratives and trends to be gleaned.
Top Five Brands by Creator Count, Coachella 2026 Weekend Two
Admittedly, a bit less so in this chart, which shows some of our old favorites, including RHODE Skin and Revolve locked in their eternal battle for Coachella dominanceâhey, wait a second. What is Skylrk, and who stole its vowels?
Well reader, Skylrk is Justin Bieberâs apparel brand/personal merch line, and during Coachella they broke festival records, slinging hoodies and slippers and other comfortable neon wares to legions of eager fans. It was enough to break into the upper-tier of Weekend Two brands, cementing Bieber Household ownership of the Coachella 2026 leaderboard at 40%.
Top Five Brands by Engagements, Coachella 2026 Weekend Two
JustinâI know youâre reading thisâplease post this image on your social media accounts as a clapback to Hailey, since I know thatâs what you use social media for. During Coachella 2026 Weekend Two, creatorsâ audiences engaged with your brand more than her brand! If thatâs not bragging rights for the dinner table, or whatever floating 4D projection surface you guys bought as a dinner table after all the money you made at Coachella 2026, then I donât know what is.
But as with Weekend One, when we look at YoY trends, a new crop of winners appears:
Top Five Brands by YoY Impressions Growth, Coachella 2026 Weekend Two
Hellooooo Marriott Bonvoy! Can I get some bonus points on my account for pointing out your Coachella dominance? Meanwhile, Always, Rivian, T-Mobile, and Starbucks continue to come on strong.
Top Five Brands by YoY Engagements Growth, Coachella 2026 Weekend Two
As for engagements, itâs Always that wears the YoY crown, with Wavytalk and Marriott Bonvoy grappling for second, and some of our other friends rounding out the top five.
Why these brands? Well, you might have sensed a pattern given the set they formed, which is also a pattern that carried over to creator content at large during Weekend Two.
Overall, the tone of creatorsâ posts during Weekend Two posts revealed less of the anticipation and attendance at brand parties/immersive experiences that defined Weekend One, and more of a focus on recap and recovery. Content about American Express and Marriott Bonvoy centered on recharging and resetting, explicitly positioning their activations as a break from the overstimulation of festival life. Meanwhile, Always benefited from creator content that narrated the practical reality of camping and surviving the weekend.
Basically, instead of maintaining a âyou had to be thereâ energy, Weekend Two creators were more often explaining how they got through Coachella, where they recovered, which activations were worth stopping at, and what still felt exciting after the first-weekend hype had passed. That made hospitality spaces and wellness brands especially well-positioned to resonate.
Okay, so by now it should be clear that there are many ways to slice and dice such rich data, and that I therefore have lots to say. This could easily be the longest HBBIP of the year (and it probably already is).
For now, Iâll limit myself to the five key things that creator marketers need to know about Coachella 2026.
1. Rhode and Revolve proved there's more than one way to win Coachella
The two biggest brands of the festival took opposite approaches (within the world of inviting conventionally attractive people to party in the desert), and both worked. RHODE Skin flooded the zone, riding the wave of "Bieberchella" cultural momentum, but Revolve matched that effort with ample impressions and engagements from a smaller creator set, driven largely via Revolve Fest, its signature invite-only, highly engineered experience.
The takeaway: saturation and curation are both viable strategies, but the smartest brands are starting to blend them, combining a core "hero" creator segment for reach with a broader mid-tier base for always-on volume.
2. Beauty brands are built for thisâŚ
Among the festivalâs big winners were e.l.f., Medicube, and Neutrogena. Coincidence? I think not! We already knew that beauty is uniquely suited to Coachella's content rhythm: high-frequency posting, easy product integration, and repeatable formats like GRWMs and skin prep routines all lend themselves well to the festivalâs many demands. Meanwhile, the creator collective modelâdozens or hundreds of mid-tier creators all posting within the same windowâis just the latest iteration of what beautyâs been doing since forever.
3. âŚBut so are non-beauty brands that plan the right âimmersive experienceâ
In weekend one, Barbie generated $3.4M EMV and 4.2M engagements from just 156 posts, proving that strong cultural IP travels. Meanwhile, Rivian posted over +1,000% YoY EMV growth through an immersive real-world activation, despite having no history as a Coachella advertiser. Finally, Agua de Kefir emerged as the Coachella Newcomer of the Year by partnering with Love Island talent, leaning into the festivalâs reality TV-like feel, and leveraging the power of always-on narratives.
Whatâs the pattern? Brands outside fashion and beauty are cracking the code by building experiences worth documenting, rather than sponsoring one-off moments.
4. TikTok and Instagram are equally important, for different reasons
Many of Coachellaâs top brands, including RHODE Skin and e.l.f., split their EMV nearly 50/50 across both platforms. But whereas Instagram is the steady engineâbroader creator participation, higher post volume, reliable baseline reachâTikTok is where things go viral.
Brands that staked their Coachella presences on real-world experiences, like Revolve, Starbucks, and Rivian skewed heavily TikTok, where real-time storytelling lands harder. However, our YoY data indicated that TikTok is more volatile (massive swings go both ways), while Instagram growth was steadier across the board.
5. Coachella is a livestream, not a highlight reel
Creator content in 2026 was defined by immediacy, utility, and unfiltered access, rather than the polished (and predictable) aesthetics of the past. There was a lot of GRWMs, packing content, skin prep routines, and real-time captions like "Day 1 in the books" and "brb on a side quest." Missing? Posts about the actual music performances. Almost all of creatorsâ attention went to brand activations and social experiences.
And by the way, those creators are pretty aware of the discourse around Coachellaâafter all, theyâre professionally online. While posts often evinced visible meta-commentary ("#coachellacanceled"), creators leaned into this trend winkingly, rather than ignoring it altogether.
In the end, creators know that love it or hate it, Coachella is not only their Super Bowl, but here to stay. In 2026, creator participation increased, content output became more continuous, and creators evolved from amplifiers to primary distribution channels. Coachella is now essentially a real-time, creator-led broadcast, and brands canât afford to miss out on that opportunity. The result was a more immersive, participatory ecosystem, where brands were no longer just hosting events, but building environments in which creators could continuously document, remix, and share in real time.
So there you have it: Coachella 2026 is in the books. As we all collectively brace ourselves for Coachella 2027, I have only one question:
Which brands are inviting me to their immersive experiences?
*All data, unless otherwise specified, stems from CreatorIQ's public-facing brand leaderboards. We will never share performance metrics from a customer's CreatorIQ profile, or any brand's private information.
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