An unlikely industry has found a 'genius' way to advertise to millennials

Walk through any major music festival and you're going to encounter similar fixtures: big stages, a mix of hip up-and-comers and established megastars, and an array of gourmet food and drink vendors. Add one more to the list: brands.

At this year's Governors Ball Music Festival in New York City, the brands were tucked into every corner: Bacardi Rum, Tito's Vodka, Coca Cola, Vitamin Water, Subway, and Godiva Chocolate, to name a few.

One might think that advertising at an event attendees pay $300 or more to attend would be unwelcome, particularly among hip millennials, whose reputation as advertising-averse and difficult to reach has spawned a cottage industry of millennial-focused brand experts and consultants. But, it's the opposite.

Everywhere, over the course of the three-day festival, attendees were - to use advertising jargon - engaging with brands - sampling products, filling out surveys, signing up for mailing lists, and taking branded photos and uploading them to social media.

All of that is a testament to the skill of Founders Entertainment, the festival promotion company behind Governors Ball, and more broadly the genius of "experiential marketing" or "engagement marketing" (there are a lot of names for it, I could go on.).

Rather than a one-way, passive relationship between brand and consumer (like traditional television advertisements), "engagement marketing" tries to create a two-way relationship getting the consumer and the brand to interact in the real world. So-called brand activations, like those on site at Governors Ball, are the predominant way to make that happen.

The Founders Entertainment team, led by Alex Joffe, the director of brand and media partnerships, have grown festival sponsorships and activations to a program that generates millions of dollars per year.