Brand activation agency for pop-ups, tours and sampling
AGENC designs and builds brand activations that put product in people's hands: pop-up shops, branded vehicles, multi-city tours, festival fleets and sampling programs measured in foot traffic, samples and sales.
What we do as a brand activation agency
AGENC is a brand activation agency for launches that need to happen in public. We pick the site, pull the permits, design and fabricate the build, staff it, and plan the content so the activation keeps working online after the last guest leaves. Our teams are in Los Angeles and New York, and our activations have run from a SoHo newsstand and The Grove to Coachella, Aspen and a pink-bronco fleet in the desert.
Every activation starts with what a guest should do: try the product, take it home, buy it at a nearby store, or post about it. The design, the staffing plan and the sampling count all follow from that.
Pop-ups and experiential retail
Short-run shops and branded environments, from one-day events to multi-week stores.
Miss Dior Millefiori at Gansevoort Plaza
A custom structure inspired by the Miss Dior bottle in the Meatpacking District during New York Fashion Week: a floor-to-ceiling video wall, an infinity flower mirror room, a Dior café and custom bouquet making. Five days, 500+ guests a day, daily sell-outs.
Cathay Pacific at The Grove and Hudson Yards
A two-day, ground-up pop-up for the airline's 80th anniversary with a 360-degree heritage journey and its premium cabins, at The Grove in Los Angeles and then at Hudson Yards in New York in October 2026.
Olaplex at The Grove
A two-day pop-up over Oscars weekend with express hairstyling, red-carpet photos and gift bags, launching a jumbo bonding oil and a travel-size dry shampoo.
LoveShackFancy x Stanley at Rockefeller Center
The brands' first holiday "Pinkmas" pop-up in 2024: one day only, with ballet and hot chocolate, drawing thousands of fans.
Mercari on Melrose
We designed and produced Mercari's first brick-and-mortar store, on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles in 2024.
Hourglass x Barneys New York
A pop-up at 14 Prince Street for Hourglass's 20th anniversary during New York Fashion Week: 38 consumer days, 45+ rotating designers, VIP nights and a revival of Fred's Cafe in opening week.
Mobile tours and branded vehicles
When the audience is spread out, the activation moves. We handle routing, stop permits, parking and staffing for every stop.
Kosas DreamBeam fleet at Coachella
Four custom pink Broncos topped with oversized DreamBeam products gave festival-goers rides and sunscreen, with Unwell and Pressed Juicery as partners. 6,000+ samples and $3.5M+ in EMV in Weekend 1.
Khloud trolley in Los Angeles
A custom Khloud trolley made seven stops over two days to launch Khloé Kardashian's protein popcorn, with sampling and meet-and-greets with Khloé at select stops.
Deli Boys food trucks
Two branded trucks with Yeastie Boys Bagels served free chopped cheeses in Los Angeles to launch the Onyx series Deli Boys (1,800 orders), followed by a six-city comedy tour with Don't Tell Comedy.
Drunk Elephant C-Luma tour
A pop-up tour for the C-Luma Hydrabright Serum in Los Angeles, Miami and New York, two days per city, with skincare consultations, samples and merch for 2,000+ daily visitors.
Sampling at scale
Sampling only works if the product reaches the right hands at the right moment, so we plan counts, restock runs and staffing per stop. The Supergoop! Sunshine Shack started as a takeover of the SoHo newsstand on Prince Street, then traveled to 10 festival stops from Aspen to Coachella and handed out 40,000 product samples. Kosas put 6,000+ sunscreen samples into festival-goers' hands in three days, when they needed sunscreen most.
Festival activations
Festivals are crowded and hot, with limited power and strict load-in windows. We have produced at Coachella, SXSW and Revolve Festival.
Coachella
The Kosas DreamBeam fleet (2025), the Supergoop! Sunshine Shack, and four Patrón events from day to night in Weekend 1 of 2023.
SXSW with Prime Video
A four-day immersive experience in Austin in 2023 that generated 1.7B+ social impressions and won Best Brand Collaboration Event.
Supergoop! Sun-Bus at Revolve Festival
A branded bus activation for Supergoop! at Revolve Festival in 2024.
Activations that drive retail
Many of our activations are built to move people into a store. The Drunk Elephant tour drove foot traffic to nearby Sephora locations. The Supergoop! newsstand campaign was followed by sales growth in nearby stores. For J.Crew we have built a vending machine (viral at its Swim Club on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket in 2024), a slot machine and a photobooth, using QR codes and personalization that also capture customer data.
Permits, sites and logistics
Street-facing activations live or die on permits. In New York City, commercial and promotional street events need a SAPO street event permit, with fees from $3,100 to $66,000 per location per day and applications due 14 to 60 days ahead depending on size, plus $1M in liability insurance. In Los Angeles, temporary use of a building, property or public way falls under LADBS Temporary Special Event permits. We build those lead times into the schedule before the creative is final.
We also coordinate celebrity appearances, security, crowd lines, power and restock, which mattered for Khloud's seven stops across some of Los Angeles' busiest neighborhoods in two days. For conferences, award shows and premieres, see our event marketing work, or view all case studies.
Related work
Questions we hear
Where we produce
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Let's work together
We're excited to connect! Drop us a line and we'll reach out to set up an intro call.