After being cooped up inside with few alternatives to socialize, individuals yearned to interrupt the overwhelming isolation they’d skilled throughout the pandemic. During 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 Authentic Live, a devoted enterprise launched by Authentic Brands Group, has stepped in to create, curate, and host dwell events in addition to immersive experiences. Those outings hook up with the group’s 50-plus manufacturers, together with Sports Illustrated, Shaquille O’Neal, and extra, which have turn out to be significantly well-liked with Gen Z and millennials. The firm, at its 50-plus signature events per yr (plus different life-style and company events), blends movie star warmth, premium pricing, and data-driven outcomes at the greatest tentpoles, like the Super 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, government vice chairman of tactical alternatives at Authentic Brands Group, instructed Fortune.
Photo courtesy Authentic Live.
One such main upcoming occasion is Shaq’s Fun House, which will probably be hosted the Friday night earlier than the Super Bowl subsequent month. Dienst described it as a music experience, plus an out of doors carnival with rides, cubicles, and performances by Tiësto, T-Pain, and Disco Lines.
But this isn’t any outdated carnival: Ticket costs begin at $250 for common admission, and value as a lot as $1,550 for shared VIP tables.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 instructed Fortune. “And that energy lifts everybody.”
Photo courtesy Authentic Live
On the Saturday night earlier than the Super Bowl, they may also host SI: The Party, the place The Chainsmokers and Ludacris will carry out. Ticket costs begin at $450 and vary all the approach as much as $133,000 for on-stage VIP tables.
Authentic Live’s enter on viewers expectations and cultural context helps form the appear and feel of events, Justin Toman, vice chairman of partnerships at Verizon, instructed Fortune. (Verizon is one in every of the companions for SI: The Party, and likewise works with Authentic Live on different events.)
Of course, Authentic Live doesn’t simply exist as a method for individuals to have enjoyable. It additionally operates as a extra immersive approach to unfold model consciousness for its companions. While Authentic Live declined to share income totals, 65,000 customers attended its events 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 Authentic Live’s assist on inventive growth, manufacturing, expertise sourcing, advertising and marketing, and media providers.
Another main occasion hosted by Authentic Live, in partnership with Sports Illustrated, hosts events throughout F1 races, significantly in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas the place it has 50,000 sq. toes of premium occasion area 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.
Authentic Live with Sports Illustrated additionally companions with Churchill Downs to assist “elevate” the Kentucky Derby visitor experience, Casey Ramage, a senior advisor at Churchill Downs Racetrack, instructed 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, Authentic Live made the occasion distinctive by adorning the area with Kentucky Derby and Sports Illustrated memorabilia so company may see what the Derby was like relationship 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 experience financial system
Especially throughout the previous couple of years, extra manufacturers have leaned into and invested in extra experiential alternatives for followers and customers. Aside from Authentic Live’s work, manufacturers from Coach to Netflix have invested in areas the place customers can experience manufacturers in new and alternative ways.
Taking a web page from Ralph Lauren’s playbook, Coach opened a espresso store, which was an prompt hit with Gen Z, and Netflix opened immersive rooms recreating Stranger Things and Squid Game units. An Eventbrite report printed Jan. 14 additionally exhibits almost 80% of Gen Z and millennials anticipate to attend extra events in 2026, and extra crave energetic involvement at events as a substitute of passive watching.
Authentic Live takes that power and curiosity in immersive experiences to a complete totally different stage, although, contemplating some customers can anticipate to shell out 1000’s of {dollars} to attend their events, relying on the ticket sort and occasion itself.
That matches Gen Z’s want to have status-defining experiences in an period in which they yearn to be in the prime 1%. In truth, Gen Zers, on common, imagine an annual wage of $587,797 and web price of $9.47 million are wanted after they envision “financial success,” in keeping with a 2024 examine by monetary agency Empower. That’s a lot increased than some other era.
Photo courtesy Authentic Live
“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 events 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 Super Bowl bashes. Beyond sports activities events, life-style manufacturers like Champion get runways at New York Fashion Week, mixing influencers, celebrities, and 80 years of name DNA.
“We’re really good at bringing heat to a brand,” Dienst mentioned.
To put it in perspective, he described Authentic Live as Disney working in reverse. With Authentic Brands as 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.”
While Gen Z could also be priced out of homeownership, they’re nonetheless flush for FOMO. For them, a $1,000 night out isn’t indulgence—it’s identification. And with that, Authentic Live bets large: premium entry trumps countless scrolls.
As Dienst places it, Authentic Live events aren’t stale company mixers, however “wholesome” enjoyable which might be mutually useful for customers and types. In a world of infinite content material, being there is the new luxurious—and Authentic Live is promoting it by the 1000’s.
