Tamara Deike is a Global Brand Development Director at PlayNetwork. She consults with PlayNetwork clients, inspiring innovative and engaging campaigns to help shape their customer experiences. With a background as a DJ, 12 years working in dance music across record labels, tech startups and artist management, as well as a Brand Development Director, Tamara has a unique perspective on both the music and artistry of the event, as well as the brands with pop-up experiences.

THE BRANDS

To be a brand on site at Coachella is a thing of many wonders. This is one of the most highly-curated, productionally-perfected (the app, digitized wristband activation, etc.) festivals, period. So when it comes to hand-selecting which brands are befitting partners, Goldenvoice has pretty much nailed it. Only a few brands rose to the top of my short-list (only 6 official brand sponsors this year):

Sephora: Best on-site activation at Coachella, hands-down. This gorgeous tent featured AC, various makeup ‘try/touch-up’ stations, a socially connected selfie-screen, Sephora giveaways, a […]

Tamara Deike is a Global Brand Development Director at PlayNetwork. She consults with PlayNetwork clients, inspiring innovative and engaging campaigns to help shape their customer experiences. With a background as a DJ, 12 years working in dance music across record labels, tech startups and artist management, as well as a Brand Development Director, Tamara has a unique perspective on both the music and artistry of the event, as well as the brands with pop-up experiences.

THE MUSIC

Suffice it to say that I’m no stranger to music festivals. I’ve attended everything from Sonar to Lovebox to Melt! – but this, was my first-ever Coachella. Now in its 16th year, 2015 featured 200 acts across both weekends with crowds of 100k+ people braving the 100°+ temperatures at a blisterin’ $375+ per ticket.

You’d have to be completely off the grid to miss the fervor of product placement, festival-inspired editorial, social media buzz, and artist releases staking claim pre-Coachella. As I drove down the 10 Freeway from L.A. […]

Seeing U2’s monumental 360 tour in Seattle last month left me reminiscing for weeks about all the shows that came before and the evolution of the stadium concert experience. My first arena show was in the early 80s when I was lucky enough to catch Def Leppard at the Oakland Coliseum on their Pyromania tour. My friend’s parents dropped us off on their way to see Harry Belafonte (I kid you not!). We waved goodbye to their station wagon and exchanged a “I can’t believe they actually let us come” look. Then we were off on our slow walk to the entrance, passing guys with long hair, chicks in spikey boots, Camaros blasting “F-f-f-foolin!” and vendors hawking bootleg cassettes and t-shirts. Once inside the arena, the collective vibration was staggering as we enjoyed a four hour rock and laser extravaganza, featuring opening band Uriah Heep and ended with Joe “waterfall-mullet” Elliot taking off his Union Jack shirt to reveal one with an American flag during the encore. If this […]

For the last 15 years Alan Wilder hasn’t been a member of Depeche Mode. And in the span of 90 minutes, the length of Recoil’s show last Monday night in Seattle, it became painfully obvious what’s been missing from the last four DM albums.

Against a backdrop of intriguing (and sometimes disturbing) visuals Wilder, with the assistance of Paul Kendall (a longtime Mute Records engineer, producer and mixer), created a stunning sonic landscape, chock full of all of the elements we have come to know and love, i.e. analog synthesizers, sound effects and vocal samples. Playing songs spanning the entire Recoil discography, the tunes that received the biggest response from the audience were mash-ups that incorporated elements from the Depeche Mode catalog (for me, “Walking In My Shoes/Jezebel” was a highlight).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igWGacLdQb8]

Apparently Wilder is constantly barraged with questions regarding when he’ll rejoin his former band mates. That would be fantastic! But, please Alan, at the very least: produce DM’s next album. Just imagine;