Pop-ups are becoming a popular marketing tactic for emerging brands, and Digiday set out to analyze how these brands are approaching such activations. For young CPG brands, year-round investment into standalone pop-up events isn’t feasible. Although the majority of CPG startups included in Digiday’s sample invested in a pop-up event last year, the capital and resources required to continuously host these events throughout the year are just out of reach for the growing marketing budgets of these startups. Instead, these new brands are showing up at large events as sponsors or investing in exclusive parties for brand partners and influencers, rather than hosting multi-day pop-up activations for the public. In fact, over a 12-month period, these startups sponsored more large ticketed events like music festivals, expos and professional sporting events — and hosted more private invite-only brand parties — than they held standalone pop-ups for the public. Story by Dania Gutierrez-Flores
