Why Bananas at a Music Festival Changed How I Think About Experiential Marketing
I was at a music festival, ankle-deep in mulch and questionable decisions, when I saw the Banana Tent. Not branded. Not sponsored. Just a bright yellow tent where a man in a velour robe was handing out bananas to grateful, sun-dazed revellers.
This wasn’t sampling. This was spiritual. People were lining up not just for the potassium, but because the experience had zero agenda. Zero sales pitch. And that’s when it hit me: some of the best marketing right now looks like… nothing at all. It doesn't shout; it settles in around a need you didn’t know you had.
Experiential marketing gets too caught up in gimmickry. VR headsets no one wants to wear. Pop-ups that feel like PowerPoint decks with QR codes. But the Banana Tent? It did something most campaigns forget to do: it gave people something useful in the moment, with a wink—but no ask. The result? A queue of brand lovers, hungry for more and wondering, "What was that?"
New Zealand has a tight window for festivals and events—summer’s short, the land's long. Brands here have the perfect stage for wild, weird activations grounded in local insight. The takeaway? Skip the neon backpacks, and ask yourself this: what does your audience actually need when they're sunburnt, underfed, and dancing to Tame Impala? Possibly a banana.
This wasn’t sampling. This was spiritual. People were lining up not just for the potassium, but because the experience had zero agenda. Zero sales pitch. And that’s when it hit me: some of the best marketing right now looks like… nothing at all. It doesn't shout; it settles in around a need you didn’t know you had.
Experiential marketing gets too caught up in gimmickry. VR headsets no one wants to wear. Pop-ups that feel like PowerPoint decks with QR codes. But the Banana Tent? It did something most campaigns forget to do: it gave people something useful in the moment, with a wink—but no ask. The result? A queue of brand lovers, hungry for more and wondering, "What was that?"
New Zealand has a tight window for festivals and events—summer’s short, the land's long. Brands here have the perfect stage for wild, weird activations grounded in local insight. The takeaway? Skip the neon backpacks, and ask yourself this: what does your audience actually need when they're sunburnt, underfed, and dancing to Tame Impala? Possibly a banana.