Essence Ventures Has Been a Definitive Voice for Black Women. It’s Time Brands Start Listening.

During the summer months, it’s natural for the connotation of word “festival” to conjure thoughts of parties, performances and celebrating with abandon (i.e., music festivals), whereas in the autumn months the term has been co-opted by semi-cerebral media companies packaging glitzy, thought leadership programming for audiences clamoring to attend networking functions where they can meet notable actors, authors, playwrights and business and tech geniuses in a more “relaxed” setting.

In a way, the Essence Festival of Culture is an amalgamation of both. Although, now in its 29th year, it has preceded most of the molds.

Originally dubbed the “party with a purpose,” the festival began in 1994 to celebrate the 25th year of Essence Magazine, one of the most popular and heralded publications catering to Black women. It has since become the largest music and culture event for Black Americans in the United States, with an estimated 500,000 attendees annually, and continues to draw celebrities, political figures and influential personalities in business, politics and entertainment across multiple generations, disciplines and demographics.

Vice President Kamala Harris—who, last year, spoke with Keke Palmer during a fireside chat addressing the critical issues facing Black women—will return this year to participate in her second Global Black Economic Forum discussion hosted by the festival. Harris will be joined by Secretary of Treasury, Janet Yellen, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Michael Regan.

It was also the inspiration behind (and setting for) the hit film “Girls Trip,” which grossed over $140 million at the box office, and catapulted a then-unknown Tiffany Haddish to fame.

And most notably, a recent report conducted by HBCU, Dillard University, found that the festival has been a financial boon for the city of New Orleans, which has hosted the event since its inception, apart from 2006, when it was forced to move to Houston in the wake of the city’s devastation following Hurricane Katrina. The study found that in 2022, the city saw an impact of over $300 million from the festival, a figure that Pauline Malcom-Thornton, chief revenue officer of Essence Ventures, says is part of a cumulative economic impact totaling over $4 billion.

In short: The Essence Festival of Culture is a very big deal, and brands looking to authentically connect with the Essence audience, which comprises of highly engaged, educated, and affluent Black consumers, need to pay attention.

Culture club

It is for this and many reasons that the team at Essence Ventures—which owns and operates the festival—remain calculated when considering all aspects of the event…including the brands they partner with to bring the experience to their covetable audience.

“We’re very, very intentional about ensuring that our partners are making meaningful impact within the community,” Malcom-Thornton told Adweek. “That they’re hiring communities of color in terms of preferred vendors that they might work with. And that it really is an investment in the Black economic success and helping us to close the wealth and pay gap in that community. But also, at a macro level as well.”

Malcom-Thornton tells Adweek that this year’s EFOC has close to three dozen supporting partners, with AT&T, L’Oréal, The Walt Disney Company and McDonald’s joining perennial presenting partner, Coca-Cola (who’s been a partner since its start), as marquee sponsors for the weekend-long event.

“The revolution must be financed,” said Malcom-Thornton, both jokingly and with sincerity. “We cannot do what we do every single year in such a high-caliber way without the help of our corporate sponsors. They really do enhance the overall experience in programming [by] bringing incredible panel discussions.”

In addition to Hip Hop’s golden anniversary—which Essence Ventures’ chief marketing officer, Erika Bennett, tells Adweek will be represented by festival headliners Missy Elliott, Megan Thee Stallion and Lauryn Hill (whose acclaimed album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” serendipitously celebrates its 25th anniversary this year)—the festival’s programming will offer a myriad of experiences for the intergenerational crowd.

“What’s really cool about the way we’ve programmed festival is in addition to the returning, popular fan-favorites like the ‘Food & Wine festival’ for example, we’ve also added new experiences that showcase the magic of all the experiences within the Essence Ventures portfolio,” said Bennett.

That portfolio includes AFROPUNK, which Bennett says caters to self-expression and futurism, Essence Girls United, the brand’s Gen Z platform, and the newly acquired Beautycon, which serves personal care and wellness enthusiasts—all of which will be making their debut at the flagship festival. Bennett told Adweek AFROPUNK will have an immersive experience entitled “BLKTOPIA” at the Convention Center, and both AFROPUNK and EGU will host separate events featuring indie artist performances and a post-concert kickback for younger festivalgoers.

“A fun lineup of artists. TikTok-worthy moments. And just a real VIP vibe,” says Bennett, describing the bespoke experiences.

A beauty-full new relationship

Both Bennett and Malcom-Thornton told Adweek that Beautycon will also return as a standalone event in Los Angeles in September after a four-year hiatus, with Walmart as its exclusive retail partner.

“Beautycon is so beloved by so many consumers and brands alike, it’s really important that we were intentional about the mission and vision for Beautycon as we bring it back,” said Bennett. “It’s more about creating a community. And even more importantly, about redistributing the power back to individuals, and to consumers defining beauty on their own terms.

We’ll be showing up in more of a 360 way. Through storytelling, through our online presence and in the way we partner with and empower and center creators.”
She continued, “I think for a long time, we’ve seen a handful of gatekeepers really define what your hair should look like. What your skin type should look like. How your body should be shaped. Very externalized and very specific definitions of beauty. And it excludes a significant portion of people globally.

And then you have folks then trying to attain an aesthetic that is not attainable because it’s not real. And so, the intention behind the work we’ve done in terms of our brand, our mission, is that it’s important that we allow consumers that freedom, and we create the space for consumers to go on a personal journey, inward, and then really define for themselves how they want to express outward.”

The (Hip Hop) revolution will be televised

In 2022, for the first time in its history, EFOC partnered with Hulu to livestream its Evening Concert Series, allowing audiences to watch headliner (and icon) Janet Jackson perform from the comforts of their own homes and anywhere in the country.

The streamer will be back this year in a larger capacity to celebrate Hip Hop’s milestone, according to Malcom-Thornton, bringing with them Ed Lover, Rocsi Diaz and Big Tigger, whose connection to the genre and the culture date back to the 90s as hosts of popular cable shows Yo! MTV Raps, and BET’s 106 & Park and Rap City, respectively.

“Last year, we had close to 2 million unique attendees for Essence Festival, which was record-breaking. That’s both in-person and streamed audiences … so we’re super-excited to have that partnership, because it plays such an integral part in expanding who sees [us] and who engages with our brand across the country.”

‘Seeking long-term partnership: serious inquiries only’

While the festival’s cache has drawn several brands willing to buy-in to have a presence at weekend-long event, the challenge has been convincing many of them to keep the same energy year-round and go the distance with the full entity that is Essence Ventures.  

“A lot of our partners are really invested in partnering with us 365. We are coming up with content together and all sorts of ways that we can continue to engage and support a community that is often overlooked by the big brands.”  

She continued: “I just want to ensure that festival is just one of the many touchpoints that we have for Essence as a brand and for Essence Ventures. It’s an incredible one and it’s a huge one.” 

Malcom-Thornton told Adweek the company will be presenting their 2024 Media Upfront at the EFOC kickoff on June 29—eschewing the usual April-May timeline followed by most media companies. With a captive audience and a full portfolio of brands and content offerings available to experience, it is an efficient plan that removes the guesswork for companies still on the fence and gives current partners an opportunity to hit the ground running to secure new agreements and begin planning for next year’s 30^th anniversary.  

“We want to really bring our partners into our ‘Super Bowl’ and [into] our culture at large,” she said. “The ‘Super Bowl of Culture’ being Essence Festival. So, it’s really intentional that we’re inviting prospective partners and current sponsors to hear what’s next and new from a sponsorship perspective across our entire ecosystem of brands—including Essence Festival, but also Beautycon, Essence proper, AFROPUNK and Essence Studios.”  

She also noted that Coca-Cola, AT&T, L’Oréal, Disney, and McDonald’s have already locked in multi-year agreements, which she said was “historic,” citing that in the past Essence saw a lot of transactional relationships with partners that she referred to as “one-and-done.”  

“Each year we were at the table negotiating again—which doesn’t really bode well for this audience that we really super-serve every single day for the past 50 years.”

Investing dollars on an audience that makes sense

In the words of Jay Z, “Men lie. Women lie. Numbers don’t.”

While they are going into the festival weekend in good spirits and manifesting good fortunes, both Bennett and Malcom-Thornton are still feeling the burn of seeing Black media companies bearing the brunt of recent budget cuts brought on by the recession. Malcom-Thornton hopes companies who made pledges in 2020 that were since abandoned return to the fold to renew and follow-through on those promises to invest in EFOC and Black-owned media, and like any good CRO, came armed with compelling stats to make her final case.

“The average time spent in a booth at the Essence Festival is close to 30 minutes; whereas the average time spent on a digital ad, in general, is less than two seconds. So, the time spent with this audience is unparalleled, versus any other medium out there.”

She added, “My message to our future marketers is to tap into the $2 trillion buying power that the Black consumer has, and [do it] in a very meaningful way.”