PopSugar is throwing an immersive holiday consumer experience called “Sugar Chalet” in New York City’s Bryant Park Overlook. The free, one-day winter wonderland pop-up, set to take place on November 23, will feature interactive activities targeted toward female millennials.
The digital lifestyle media outlet is capitalizing on the fact that 84 percent of holiday sales are still made in-store. Central to the event will be curated activations at the interactive shopping bazaar from brands such as e.l.f. Cosmetics, Athleta and Nature’s Way, providing in-person consumer engagement for brands who rarely meet customers face-to-face. Other immersive experiences at the two-story Sugar Chalet will include a meditation den, yoga classes, a beauty oasis where e.l.f. Cosmetics will offer mini makeovers, palm readings and curated culinary workshop.
“Guests will have the opportunity to browse, discover and shop within the Sugar Chalet. Our aim is to leverage this one-of-a-kind experience to create meaningful relationships between our attendees and our brand partners. While attendees will have the opportunity to purchase on site, many consumers will also be shopping holiday gifts on mobile this year. That said, the digital marketplace is cluttered and what we have created with The Sugar Chalet is the chance for brands to break through that clutter and to be top of mind so that when consumers ultimately make their purchase decisions, they think of these brands first,” Lindsay Leaf, PopSugar VP of experiential told AList.
By taking a modern approach to the traditional holiday pop-up, PopSugar’s hope is to push consumers through the entire marketing funnel, from discovery and intent to purchase, with the added intention of inspiring purchasing decisions far beyond the one-day bash. The event’s success will be measured through attendance and engagement as well as the digital and physical footprint that PopSugar produces.
The holiday event is just one of PopSugar’s most recent experiments in experiential marketing to deepen the connection between consumer and brand, part of the publisher’s overall omnichannel strategy.
Earlier this year, the media company took its female-focused digital strategy offline for its second annual “POPSUGAR Play/Ground” festival in New York City. The two-day event focused on experiences that fueled attendees’ wellness and career goals including panels with celebrities, workouts from fitness gurus and pop-up shopping with beauty and lifestyle brands. Single-day general admission tickets went for $65, two-day tickets for $105 and VIP tickets for $225. The event saw more than 15,000 attendees.
While PopSugar continues to expand its monetization opportunities into content opportunities, retailers are finding themselves trying to adapt to changing shopping patterns. The result is more partnerships between PopSugar and ecommerce and brick-and-mortar brands. Last year, Kohl’s teamed up with PopSugar to create an apparel line, which became available at 500 Kohl’s locations. With a quarterly subscription box and makeup collection, PopSugar has reimagined the role of a traditional publication to evolve into a lifestyle brand with a monthly global audience of 400 million.
