Hugo and Safilo ride Coachella wave, host huge promotional event

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 19, 2022

Hugo Boss is continuing to ramp up its efforts to reach younger consumers for its reborn Hugo label and at the weekend, it hosted a series of branded events in Palm Springs.

It opened the Hugo House, “a creative hub for TikTokers and talents”, and the exclusive Hugo x Soho Desert House, a pop-up by Soho House, that puts it “on the radar of millions of festival-goers”.

It comes as festival season goes ahead in a more ‘normal’ form for the first time since the pandemic began with Coachella happening in Palm Springs last weekend and next weekend.

The brand transformed a boutique hotel in downtown Palm Springs into the Hugo House, complete with the brand’s colour codes of red, black, and white, plus light installations, a denim walkway, and more. Over the three days, along with eyewear partner Safilo, the house ran “a jam-packed schedule of events, including workshops and poolside happy hours for a real community vibe”.

Hugo Boss has been launching more and more such events in recent periods as its Hugo and Boss brands aim to reach an affluent young demographic and the impact on sales figures seems to have been positive so far.

This time, high-profile TikTok creators Markell Washington, Benji Krol, Nils Küsel, Noen Eubanks, Desi Lundoloki, and actor Chloe Cherry, were invited to take up residence in the house.

Each one was given one of the hotel’s rooms decorated in a style unique to them. Davis Burleson from TikTok show What’s Poppin’ reported day-to-day goings-on from inside the house. 

The guest list social media stars Michael Le and Tiffany Le, Avani Gregg, Anthony Reeves, Larray (Larri Merritt), Ehiz, Nia Sioux, Andrew Davila, Nicky Champa, Pierre Amaury Crespeau and Harry Tate. They “were invited to stop by and create engaging content to further emphasise the brand’s TikTok-first activation”, with the hashtag #HUGOYourWay making sure everything was as visible as possible on social media.

The actual events included an embroidery session where guests could customise their own festival looks, a tie-dye workshop with a group of local LA designers, and an off-site excursion to the Hugo x Soho Desert House pop-up in the middle of the desert. Hugo and Safilo also provided entertainment for guests during the entire weekend, including a live performance from brand ambassador Big Matthew. And there was an art installation representing a giant pair of LED-lensed Hugo sunglasses.

As mentioned, it’s all about putting the brand in front of those people it needs to reach and getting to them via an activity that they love — browsing social media. 

Hugo Boss as a whole has been much more active in promotional events of late such as its Boss official partnership with the Hahnenkamm Races in Kitzbühel, its Boss Dubai desert event with the unveiling of a film launching a new see now, buy now collection; and its Boss-Russell Athletic link-up whose promotional event saw it gaining four billion social media impressions in just four days. Both Hugo and Boss also benefited from the recent launch of a celebrity-studded ad campaign.

And it has all fed through to its bottom line with strong figures posted for 2021 and the business predicting “record sales in 2022”.