On a Friday afternoon in July, Kendall Jenner’s tequila brand 818 transformed The Surf Lodge’s waterfront beach club into a tequila lover’s paradise.
Guests sipped on one-too-many frozen 818 margaritas (made in Ninja SLUSHi machines) and cans of creator Alix Earle-backed cocktail brand SIPMARGS, cooled off with Shark’s new ChillPill handheld fans, and snacked on Popeyes chicken tenders — part of the fast-food chain’s summer-long partnership with The Surf Lodge. Creators including Halley Kate McGookin, Lilly Sisto, and Carly Weinstein mingled with media, customers, and friends of the brand as DJ duo Two Friends performed against the Montauk sunset.
The party marked National Tequila Day, but it was only one piece of 818’s "Best Summer Ever" campaign. Throughout the season, the brand served tequila and frozen slushies at bars out East and wrapped a jitney in 818 branding. The Hampton Jitney is the coach service that shuttles passengers between New York City and eastern Long Island. The brand also brought influencers and members of its online community to Montauk for a getaway that included two nights of accommodations — designed to look every bit as enviable online as it felt in person.
Elaborate as that may sound, 818 was hardly an outlier. Spend a summer weekend in the Hamptons, and there’s a decent chance you’ll encounter a brand activation before you find a parking spot.
SET Active took over Amagansett’s iconic Clam Bar for one night, promising lobster rolls, games, custom keychains, and early access to its Coastline collection. (More than 200 people marked themselves as attending.) Cowboy Colostrum brought several newly famous Love Island USA contestants to both Sag Harbor and Montauk for one of their first brand trips after leaving the villa. Armani Beauty gathered celebrities and creators at The Surf Lodge to introduce its new Dolci Blush. WashWise invited female founders, executives, and creators to a morning of yoga, cold plunges, saunas, and mini therapy sessions in Montauk.
The list of activations goes on.
Of course, branded events in the affluent zipcode(s) are nothing new. This summer, however, the Hamptons calendar felt more saturated than ever. So how — and why — did this small stretch of Long Island become such a powerful stage for creator marketing?
"Consumers, creators, tastemakers, and media in one place"
The creator marketing industry is expanding quickly. U.S. spending on creator advertising is expected to reach $44 billion in 2026, up from $29.5 billion in 2024. Nearly half of the advertisers surveyed by IAB described creators as a "must buy," placing them behind only social media and paid search.
Sarah Janetti had a front-row seat to that packed calendar. The creator behind @sjeaats and author of the Substack Dish and Tell estimated that she attended at least 15 Hamptons brand events this summer, sometimes squeezing three into a single weekend.
Views from the Reunited Beauty yacht event
Credit: Sarah Janetti
Janetti rattled off events from Kith and Vivrelle, Fleur du Mal, Creed, ORA Method, and Evolv, but the invitations varied almost as much as the brands. Some leaned into the Hamptons’ built-in glamour: Clean cosmetics label Reunited Beauty celebrated its launch aboard a yacht in Sag Harbor.
Others were more family-friendly. Frozen-treat brand JonnyPops staged a pop-up at Amber Waves Farm, handing out complimentary pops and take-home boxes to visitors. "So many invitations centered on fitness," Janetti told Mashable, with brands using workout classes as a natural setting for creators to try activewear, wellness products, drinks, and beauty items.
Merchandise from Gurney's Montauk
Credit: Sarah Janetti
Taken together, her schedule resembled a circuit: A creator could spend the morning at a branded workout, the afternoon at a pop-up, and the evening aboard a sponsored yacht, producing several distinct pieces of summer content before the weekend was over.
There’s clear intention behind this strategy. "The Hamptons is uniquely powerful because it brings together consumers, creators, tastemakers, and media in one place," Jenny Brown, executive creative director at 818, told Mashable. "It’s one of the few destinations where people aren’t just experiencing culture—they’re actively documenting it."
Other factors explain why it has become such a hot spot. The most obvious is the audience already there: wealthy residents and vacationers, celebrities, creators, media figures, etc. I mean, the median Hamptons home sold for $2.5 million in the second quarter of 2026, up nearly 32 percent from a year earlier. Brands also get an instantly recognizable backdrop, from beaches and farm stands to sprawling houses and waterfront restaurants. Venues like The Surf Lodge and Gurney’s bring their own cultural cachet and experienced event teams, while the East End sits close enough to New York City for brands to shuttle guests out for an afternoon, a weekend, or the entire summer.
Evolv and OneSkin dinner at Shou Sugi Ban House
Credit: Sarah Janetti
"You’re meeting people when they’re relaxed and making memories, rather than trying to capture their attention in the middle of a busy weekday," Brown added.
Brown also pointed to a renewed interest in East Coast summer traditions after years of "Euro Summer" dominating social media. "This summer, we’ve seen a real shift toward celebrating iconic American summer destinations," she said.
Has the Hamptons reached activation overload?
The obvious drawback is that seemingly every brand has arrived at the same conclusion. In 2025, an executive at event-production company LDJ Productions told Vogue Business that approximately 90 percent of the luxury events the company worked on that summer were held in the Hamptons.
Executing those events is expensive. Companies must account for venue fees, transportation, shipping, production, seasonal staffing, and accommodations in an area with limited housing and punishing weekend traffic. Rain can derail an outdoor activation, while an invitation may be competing with several other events scheduled on the same afternoon that can blur together.
The crowding has already pushed some fashion companies to look elsewhere. A July Business of Fashion report found brands opening stores and hosting events in Nantucket, Newport, and other affluent coastal destinations where there may be less competition. One handbag founder told the publication that cutting through the Hamptons’ noise had become nearly impossible.
But moving the activation circuit somewhere else can bring the new tensions to a new place. Back in July, a Nantucket craft store sparked controversy by displaying a sign that read "No influencers," reviving a broader debate over the rise of creator culture and how disruptive it can be to independent businesses and communities.
Still, all that backlash is unlikely to bring the influencer era to an end. With creator ad spending on track to reach $44 billion in 2026, these events offer companies more than a single sponsored post. One weekend can generate days of content, introduce products to several audiences, and build an entire aspirational world around a brand.
At their best, these events do more than give creators something to post; they give everyone there something to remember. And it seems the Hamptons is hard to beat — at least this summer.
from Mashable https://ift.tt/nSMwcsN
