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Last month, the Padilla team spent a weekend in Miami soaking up the sun(screen) while coordinating the Simply Stylist Coppertone pop-up event, which featured the brand’s latest product, Coppertone Whipped, as star of the show alongside celebrity influencers. Over seven years in the making, Whipped is an entirely new form of sunscreen.
Top beauty influencers, local media and consumers attended the event at the Eden Roc Hotel, where they participated in interactive conversations about suncare, sampled the product, and, of course, Instagrammed like there was no tomorrow.
A quick synopsis: The event began on the Eden Roc Spa Terrace with an exclusive influencer brunch and panel session to discuss beauty, skincare and the importance of everyday sun protection. The panel conversation was moderated by top-tier influencer and former Bachelorette, Ali Fedotowsky-Manno and included Olympian Nastia Liukin, InStyle editor Marianne Mychaskiw, Dermatologist and Consultant to Coppertone Dr. Elizabeth Hale and Simply Stylist Founder Sarah Boyd. Following the brunch, influencers and invited guests experienced a variety of beauty-based brand activations at the Eden Roc Spa Garden.
Since the pop-up event was a huge sun-kissed success, I wanted to pass along some of my key learnings:
Aesthetics rule
Three words: wall of flowers. While the overall event was incredibly photogenic, the real bell of the ball was the Coppertone-branded backdrop comprised entirely of flowers. This provided a beautiful focal point for attendees to take photographs and showcased the brand in a unique way. While the traditional step and repeat seen at events is effective for driving social posting as well, providing attendees with a unique way to interact with the brand that looks nice in an Instagram post takes it to the next level.
Event activations should do more than simply promote the brand
Event activations should give attendees more than just exposure to the brand; they should show guests how they can interact with the product long after the event is over. For example, the Simply Stylist Coppertone pop-up brought in two local Miami aestheticians from a skin clinic. Following the brunch, influencers were invited to try a skin reading with the aestheticians where they discussed best suncare practices and applied Coppertone Whipped on guests to ensure everyone’s skin was protected from the sun. This allowed guests to sample the product but also leave with useful knowledge that they could apply to their daily lives.
When it comes to influencers, take a tiered approach
When working with paid influencers, a brand will always garner many impressions; however, to communicate a multifaceted message via these social media butterflies, it’s important to leverage ones with different followings and types of content. The Coppertone pop-up event was attended by top-tier influencers who took part in an exclusive brunch, panel sessions, and a Q&A. These influencers were able to disseminate messages about skin health and staying safe in the sun, which are part of the overarching brand ethos. Local “micro” influencers, along with these top-tier influencers, took part in the event activations that followed the brunch and sampled the product, allowing them to tell their own story about their experience. Having this variety of influencers in attendance meant that the Coppertone product story was told in an authentic way.
