After being cooped up inside with few alternatives to socialize, individuals yearned to interrupt the overwhelming isolation they’d skilled in the course of the pandemic. In the course of the previous couple of years, youthful generations, particularly, have been “revenge living,” spending on journey and different lavish experiences to make up for misplaced time.
That’s the place Genuine Stay, a devoted enterprise launched by Genuine Manufacturers Group, has stepped in to create, curate, and host stay occasions in addition to immersive experiences. These outings connect with the group’s 50-plus manufacturers, together with Sports activities Illustrated, Shaquille O’Neal, and extra, which have turn into notably widespread with Gen Z and millennials. The corporate, at its 50-plus signature occasions per 12 months (plus different life-style and company occasions), blends celeb warmth, premium pricing, and data-driven outcomes on the largest tentpoles, just like the Tremendous Bowl, F1, Kentucky Derby, and extra.
“Coming out of COVID [the] generation behind me is craving for tactile experiences and want to be in the arena,” Dan Dienst, govt vice chairman of tactical alternatives at Genuine Manufacturers Group, informed Fortune.
Picture courtesy Genuine Stay.
One such main upcoming occasion is Shaq’s Enjoyable Home, which can be hosted the Friday evening earlier than the Tremendous Bowl subsequent month. Dienst described it as a music expertise, plus an outside carnival with rides, cubicles, and performances by Tiësto, T-Ache, and Disco Strains.
However this isn’t any outdated carnival: Ticket costs begin at $250 for normal admission, and price as a lot as $1,550 for shared VIP tables.
“When someone buys a ticket with their hard-earned dollars—whether it’s a general admission or a VIP—they tend to really enjoy themselves,” Dienst informed Fortune. “And that energy lifts everybody.”
Picture courtesy Genuine Stay
On the Saturday evening earlier than the Tremendous Bowl, they may also host SI: The Celebration, the place The Chainsmokers and Ludacris will carry out. Ticket costs begin at $450 and vary all the way in which as much as $133,000 for on-stage VIP tables.
Genuine Stay’s enter on viewers expectations and cultural context helps form the feel and appear of occasions, Justin Toman, vp of partnerships at Verizon, informed Fortune. (Verizon is without doubt one of the companions for SI: The Celebration, and likewise works with Genuine Stay on different occasions.)
In fact, Genuine Stay doesn’t simply exist as a method for individuals to have enjoyable. It additionally operates as a extra immersive technique to unfold model consciousness for its companions. Whereas Genuine Stay declined to share income totals, 65,000 shoppers attended its occasions in 2025, garnering 324 million social impressions and greater than 35 billion media impressions.
“Authentic Live excels at protecting what a brand stands for while still encouraging new ways for consumers to engage,” Toman mentioned, pointing to Genuine Stay’s assistance on artistic growth, manufacturing, expertise sourcing, advertising and marketing, and media companies.
One other main occasion hosted by Genuine Stay, in partnership with Sports activities Illustrated, hosts occasions throughout F1 races, notably in Austin on the Circuit of the Americas the place it has 50,000 sq. toes of premium occasion house together with the chairman’s membership and proprietor’s monitor membership. Dienst mentioned occasion goers pay “thousands of dollars” for one- or three-day passes.
Genuine Stay with Sports activities Illustrated additionally companions with Churchill Downs to assist “elevate” the Kentucky Derby visitor expertise, Casey Ramage, a senior advisor at Churchill Downs Racetrack, informed Fortune. It’s additionally helped the racetrack with its “goal of engaging a new generation of racing fans,” Ramage added.
With its deep experiential portfolio, Genuine Stay made the occasion distinctive by adorning the house with Kentucky Derby and Sports activities Illustrated memorabilia so company might see what the Derby was like courting again to the Fifties.
“They bring a deep understanding of what resonates with modern sports audiences and pair it with a meticulous, collaborative approach to creating memorable live experiences,” Ramage mentioned.
Gen Z and the expertise financial system
Particularly in the course of the previous couple of years, extra manufacturers have leaned into and invested in additional experiential alternatives for followers and shoppers. Except for Genuine Stay’s work, manufacturers from Coach to Netflix have invested in areas the place shoppers can expertise manufacturers in new and other ways.
Taking a web page from Ralph Lauren’s playbook, Coach opened a espresso store, which was an on the spot hit with Gen Z, and Netflix opened immersive rooms recreating Stranger Issues and Squid Recreation units. An Eventbrite report revealed Jan. 14 additionally exhibits almost 80% of Gen Z and millennials anticipate to attend extra occasions in 2026, and extra crave energetic involvement at occasions as an alternative of passive watching.
Genuine Stay takes that vitality and curiosity in immersive experiences to an entire totally different stage, although, contemplating some shoppers can anticipate to shell out 1000’s of {dollars} to attend their occasions, relying on the ticket kind and occasion itself.
That matches Gen Z’s need to have status-defining experiences in an period by which they yearn to be within the prime 1%. In reality, Gen Zers, on common, consider an annual wage of $587,797 and internet value of $9.47 million are wanted after they envision “financial success,” in line with a 2024 research by monetary agency Empower. That’s a lot larger than another technology.
Picture courtesy Genuine Stay
“We’re really good at speaking to [Gen Z and millennials] … not that we’re ignoring my generation,” Dienst, who hails from Gen X, mentioned. “We’re really good at curating that mix of people.”
Success at these occasions hinges on a “cocktail” of prime expertise, flawless touchpoints, and worth, he added, whether or not it’s at a bespoke 200-person Aspen ski retreat or 9,000-person Tremendous Bowl bashes. Past sports activities occasions, life-style manufacturers like Champion get runways at New York Vogue Week, mixing influencers, celebrities, and 80 years of name DNA.
“We’re really good at bringing heat to a brand,” Dienst mentioned.
To place it in perspective, he described Genuine Stay as Disney working in reverse. With Genuine Manufacturers because the world’s No. 2 licensing agency (solely behind Disney) they began with iconic manufacturers like Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and Shaq, then constructed social followers for storytelling.
“Disney started in content,” Dienst defined. “We’re coming the other way.”
Whereas Gen Z could also be priced out of homeownership, they’re nonetheless flush for FOMO. For them, a $1,000 evening out isn’t indulgence—it’s identification. And with that, Genuine Stay bets huge: premium entry trumps countless scrolls.
As Dienst places it, Genuine Stay occasions aren’t stale company mixers, however “wholesome” enjoyable which might be mutually helpful for shoppers and types. In a world of infinite content material, being there’s the brand new luxurious—and Genuine Stay is promoting it by the 1000’s.
