The Brief: Clean Machines and Gummy Bars -

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK

This week’s hot takes on hot topics in experiential marketing cover Clean Machines, glam trucks and the Gimme Gummy Bar.

BEAUTY FANS BELLY UP TO THE GIMME GUMMY BAR IN L.A.

Surviving the news cycles this year has felt more like an Olympic sport than anything that happened at Milano-Cortina 2026.

It’s no wonder, then, that the “Gimme Gummy” trend, an ASMR-inspired aesthetic defined by its flexible textures, glossy finishes, rubberized details, and tactile nature, was a top trend in the 2026 Pinterest Predicts report. While driven by Gen Z, the trend signals a broader consumer shift towards creature comforts, customization and sensory play, as consumers respond to overstimulation and trend fatigue.

And NYX Professional Makeup wasted no time getting beauty fans hyped for Gimme Gummy as a key 2026 beauty theme with the two-day Gimme Gummy Bar. Together with Pinterest, the brand from Feb. 20-21 hosted an activation in L.A. that not only offered some serious experience-design eye candy, but gave consumers a hands-on, customizable experience steeped in the trend.

Attendees crafted personalized bag charms at the Chewy Charm bar, sampled NYX’s newly launched Jelly Job lip gloss products, snapped photos in curated settings and indulged in sweet treats at a gummy candy bar. Lip gloss and gummy bears? Take all of our money.

Photos: Courtesy of Pinterest

CREATORS TAKE THE SPOTLIGHT AT TIKTOK’S GLOBAL LIVE FEST

Influencers live in a whole realm of their own. Look no further than TikTok’s Global Live Fest, an annual event dedicated to celebrating the achievements of top creators (and their communities) on TikTok Live, a feature that allows users over the age of 18 with 1,000-plus followers to interact with their communities in real time via livestreams. Following a series of in-app creator competitions, Global Live Fest serves as the yearly culmination of a tastemaker showdown.

This year’s event, hosted Feb. 12 at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, attracted more than 600 creators from 45 countries—not to mention the 4 million people who tuned into the live broadcast—for a conference and awards show that shined a light on the best of TikTok Live creator content and community interactions from the past year.

Multi-hyphenate actress and entrepreneur Keke Palmer served as the evening’s lively host, while singer Demi Lovato gave a closing performance featuring some of her biggest hits, plus tracks from her newest album.

But that’s not all, folks. The festivities actually got started ahead of Global Live Fest on Feb. 9 with Regional Live Fest, an event for U.S.-based TikTok Live creators held at Area 15 in Vegas that featured an appearance by dj Steve Aoki, who received the Entertainment Live of the Year Award.

Beyond Vegas, TikTok hosted nine regional Live Fest events around the world, from Dubai to Rome to Seoul, honoring the impact of creators on their respective follower communities. (Agency: Seen Presents)

Photo credit: Seen Presents

SEPHORA AND TNT SPORTS DELIVER GLOW-UPS ON THE GLAM ROOM BUS TOUR

Alternative sports leagues are gaining traction, and the savviest of brands are making moves to capitalize on the properties’ growing fandoms.

Take Sephora and TNT Sports, official partners of Unrivaled, a professional 3 vs. 3 women’s basketball league founded by two WNBA stars. As part of the sponsorship, the brands on Feb. 20 launched the Glam Room Bus Tour, a mobile experience that brings the permanent Sephora Glam Room located at Unrivaled’s Miami headquarters directly to fans around South Florida.

The tour’s custom-built, glass-paneled mobile unit is packed with activities that span pro beauty stations, product sampling, personalized services, exclusive giveaways and curated photo ops, allowing fans to get the player treatment for a day.

As part of the campaign, the brands are also crafting opportunities for behind-the-scenes coverage from the tour to be included in TNT Sports’ Unrivaled broadcast coverage, and Bleacher Report social platforms.

From Sephora Arena to the University of Miami, the co-branded Glam Room Bus Tour will hit a variety of locations through the remainder of the league’s 2026 season, which wraps on March 4. Talk about an alley-oop. (Agency: Digitas)

Photo: Courtesy of Sephora

SEEING IS BELIEVING INSIDE CASCADE’S LARGER-THAN-LIFE DISHWASHER

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to step inside your dishwasher? Nope, us either.

But we have to say, many of the influencers who walked through Cascade’s “Clean Machine” experience at the Florida State Fair (Feb. 14-15) genuinely seemed to enjoy it. And the sensory installation wasn’t a one-off endeavor. Rather, the dishwasher detergent brand is rolling out a full Clean Machine tour that is slated to make stops across the U.S. this year.

In an effort to “unshroud the mystery” of what happens inside a dishwasher when its Platinum Plus product kicks in, Cascade is inviting consumers to step into the interior of a larger-than-life dishwasher to watch a full cycle powered by the product, and the science behind it. The experience comes to life through large screens that offer close-up views of the process, along with oversized dishwasher-rack installations filled with dishes, mugs and pans.

Beyond the Clean Machine, consumers at the State Fair could snap photos with giant props, enter to win a new GE Profile dishwasher, play a Spin the Plate game to score Cascade samples and swag, like water bottles and sweatshirts, and even meet Reggie the Repairman, the star of the brand’s newest tv campaign, who was available to answer any burning dishwashing questions.

Image: Courtesy of Procter & Gamble

LANEIGE LINKS PRODUCTS WITH PLAYLISTS AT ITS POP-UP BEAUTY STUDIO

Competition among beauty brands is fierce, but Laneige was well-equipped for the mindshare battle from Feb. 5-6 as it celebrated the launch of the JuicePop Box Lip Tint in NYC with a personalized, music-driven activation dubbed the JuicePop Box Studio.

The pop-up gave visitors a chance to explore eight Lip Tint shades through the lens of music via a sensory journey that matched each tint with its own genre and playlist. The idea? To make finding a new shade as exciting as finding your next favorite song. And music was woven throughout the experience, right down to playlist prompts at the brand’s dedicated shade stations.

The space also operated as a content studio, with plenty of shareable design elements on hand, from a record wall to oversized product installations, that begged to be captured. A traditional photo booth that yielded physical prints was also in the mix, along with branded refreshments and skincare giveaways. Juicy. (Agency: CNC Agency)