At Lollapalooza, Diageo brings four brands together to reach young Indians

When Linkin Park, a global rock band, headlines its debut in India with Lollapalooza, it signals just how far the country’s live music ecosystem has come. Beyond the music, however, the event has become a key touchpoint for brands looking to connect with young, urban consumers.

For Diageo, Lollapalooza represents a strategic opportunity to bring its premium and luxury portfolio to life through experience-led storytelling and social-first engagement.

Varun Koorich, vice president, marketing – portfolio head premium and luxury at Diageo India, says that modern festivalgoers are no longer just attendees but active participants who document, share and build fandom online. 

“Audiences today don’t just come for music. They want to experience and create content and share those moments digitally. That behaviour is central to how we design our experiences,” he says.

According to him, the festival’s scale and footfall, expected to touch nearly one lakh attendees this year—combined with its global outlook—give Diageo confidence in using the platform to build brands meaningfully.

“From bar and activation space allocation to ticketing and pre-event buzz, the execution is best-in-class. That makes Lollapalooza one of the strongest partners for us when it comes to building brands in a live environment,” he adds.

According to the FICCI-EY Media & Entertainment Report 2025, India’s live entertainment and music events industry was valued at Rs 142 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 18–19% until 2027, driven largely by concerts and large-scale music festivals.

Localising the festival with a global ethos

The spirits company has partnered with Lollapalooza across global markets, and while the core principles of brand activation remain consistent worldwide, Koorich says the final consumer experience is tailored to local market trends. 

“We follow a global framework for brand building, especially for brands like Johnnie Walker, which have a well-defined way of showing up across markets. However, the final offering is customised based on local consumer behaviour,” he reveals.

In India, the localisation of offerings is strongly influenced by the preferences of Gen Z. Koorich observes that experimentation and discovery, especially among younger Indian festival-goers, drive the rapid growth of cocktail culture.

“There has been a significant explosion of cocktail consumption in India. Festivals like Lollapalooza give us a strong opportunity to introduce contemporary cocktail serves and build deeper connections with Gen Z audiences,” he says.

From a consumption trend perspective, cocktails generally dominate at large-format music festivals, according to Diageo’s observations.

Koorich clarifies that the occasion, which primarily revolves around socialising and connection, along with seasonality and consumer expectations, drives the brand selection for Lollapalooza.

“It’s not about activating the entire Diageo portfolio. We carefully select brands that fit the occasion, the climate, and what consumers are looking to experience at that moment,” he adds.

Distinct roles for each brand within the same cultural space

With four Diageo brands—Johnnie Walker (Presenting sponsor), Black & White, Tanqueray and Smirnoff—participating at Lollapalooza, avoiding narrative overlap is a deliberate strategy. Koorich claims that each brand plays a distinct role based on its positioning and relevance to different consumer moments.

Diageo is positioning Black & White, one of its oldest and most recognisable brands, around shared experiences, featuring food pairings and interactive installations. At the centre is the ‘Table for Everyone’ activation.

This year, Diageo will host a shared table experience where people come together, have conversations, enjoy finger food and cocktails, and spend time with friends.

Then there will be a large-scale installation created in collaboration with street artist Jayesh Sachdev, featuring Black & White’s iconic twin terriers. 

“It helps build continuity between the festival experience and spaces consumers encounter later,” Koorich says.

While cocktails have emerged as clear winners in terms of consumption, Koorich said there isn’t a single consumer favourite brand.

“Sales tend to be fairly evenly distributed across the portfolio because the audience itself is diverse—whisky lovers, gin drinkers, vodka consumers—all co-exist at the festival,” he explained. Straight serves are also available but typically see lower uptake, as younger consumers prefer lighter, more experimental drinks.

Diageo is also introducing a podcast room at the festival, marking a shift from traditional selfie zones to conversation-led formats. The space will host podcasters while also allowing festival-goers to participate, record conversations and share authentic moments. 

Measuring success beyond footfalls

While footfalls and impressions matter, Diageo evaluates festival success across multiple layers.

At a broader level, the company tracks brand health metrics nationally, including awareness, distinctiveness and consideration, to assess whether festival activations are strengthening brand perception.

“At a more granular level, we look at talkability—how much conversation the brand is generating during the festival—using both internal tracking tools and external agency platforms,” Koorich says. Sales performance, including cocktail and brand-level uptake, is also closely monitored.

Festivals like Lollapalooza serve not only as sales opportunities but also as platforms for innovation and testing for Diageo. Koorich explains that the company frequently utilises these environments to trial new flavours or promotional offers while also gathering real-time feedback from consumers.

“These third spaces allow us to understand sentiment, experiment responsibly and see what resonates before scaling ideas further,” he notes.

Johnnie Walker Blonde, a relatively new offering in India, is positioned as a high-energy, Gen Z-forward brand focused on awareness and experimentation.

Under the broader ‘Keep Walking’ ethos, the brand is tapping into contemporary cultural moments through the ‘Blonde Social Club’, which features experiences such as a pickleball installation.

“Pickleball is doing well with younger audiences globally, and many people haven’t tried it yet. So they get to experience something new while they’re at the festival—something that’s social, energetic, and content-friendly,” Koorich says.

Live events as ‘moments of truth’ for brands

With live events becoming central to how young consumers engage with brands, Koorich believes the current boom in India’s concert economy presents a major opportunity for experiential marketing.

“This explosion in live events is music to a marketer’s ears. It allows us to move beyond traditional advertising and create real moments of truth—where what consumers see on social media or in campaigns is experienced live, end-to-end,” he says.

Online entertainment ticketing platform BookMyShow’s Throwback 2025 report mentions that live events saw a 17% rise in consumption (in 2025), with more than 34,000 shows staged across the country – from concerts and comedy to cultural festivals.

Solo attendance grew sharply too, with 1.8 million fans choosing to attend events alone.
Post-pandemic, Koorich notes, young consumers are increasingly experience-led, globally aware and willing to spend on premium cultural moments.

Improved infrastructure, production quality and openness to global acts have further accelerated this trend. “India is now very much on the global concert map, and audiences are responding strongly to that,” he says.

For Diageo, this means staying agile. “The question for us is whether we’re ready to keep pace—with experiences, innovation and speed. The demand is only growing,” he adds.