Sold-out Santa Monica event attracts thousands of attendees, drives record brand engagement, and fuels expansion into a bigger weekend.
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESS Newswire / June 30, 2026 / RASA World, the experiential and technology company behind Pier Play Festival, announced significant growth across its flagship event platform following its most successful edition to date, underscoring increasing demand for immersive live experiences that connect brands, artists, creators, and consumers.
Launched in 2024, Pier Play became the first electronic music festival to take place on the iconic Santa Monica Pier, transforming one of Southern California's most recognizable landmarks into a destination for world-class music, immersive brand experiences, and cultural discovery. Since its debut, the festival has sold out for three consecutive years, establishing itself as a staple of the region's cultural calendar.
The most recent edition, held on May 30, marked another milestone for the growing platform, drawing thousands of attendees, creators, and brand partners for a day of music, experiential activations, and community. Building on that momentum, RASA World recently announced that Pier Play will expand into a two-day festival experience taking place October 3-4 on the Santa Monica Pier.
The growth comes amid increasing demand from both attendees and brand partners. Compared to the previous year, Pier Play is projected to have a 248% increase in annual attendance, a 265% increase in ticket demand, a 620% increase in social media reach, and a 300% increase in media and publication reach.
"Our vision has always been bigger than a single event," said Ahmad Muhaisen, CEO and Co-Founder of RASA World. "We're building scalable cultural platforms that bring together premium audiences, world-class talent, creators, and brands in ways that generate meaningful connections and measurable value. The success of Pier Play validates both the demand for these experiences and the opportunity to scale them nationally."
The event featured a globally recognized lineup including the global debut of Âme Live featuring Rhye, alongside performances from AMÉMÉ, AWEN & Xinobi, Notre Dame, and Darina Chuz. Collectively, the artists represent more than 1.5 billion streams across major platforms and more than 8.4 million followers across social media.
Beyond music, Pier Play has evolved into a premium experiential platform that drives measurable engagement between brands and consumers. This year's audience represented one of Southern California's most attractive consumer demographics, with an average age of 33.7 years old and a strong concentration of six-figure earners, young professionals, entrepreneurs, and affluent couples.
More than 20 brand partners participated through experiential activations, hospitality experiences, product sampling, technology showcases, wellness offerings, and interactive installations, reflecting growing demand from brands seeking deeper engagement with high-value consumers.
This year's partner roster included AlphaTheta, Beam Suntory (-196 and Hornitos), Coca-Cola, vitaminwater, Psilly Goose, Love.com, RobotX, Customer Copy, ChargeGoGo, Awake Chocolate, Delicious Minis, Dear Caviar, Silk The Rich, Something New, Good Quality Human, Pinklicious Nails, KYE Hair Experience, Kind Patches, and additional lifestyle and consumer brands.
At the center of the festival grounds, AlphaTheta transformed its footprint into a hands-on DJ learning lab, allowing attendees to learn mixing techniques across multiple professional-grade deck setups while interacting directly with the company's latest technology. The activation served as both an educational experience and a product demonstration, introducing festivalgoers to the next generation of music creation tools.
Technological innovation emerged as another standout theme at RobotX, where its AI-powered humanoid robot and robotic dog quickly became one of the festival's most talked-about attractions. The activation generated significant attendee engagement, with guests interacting with the robots throughout the day and into the evening, creating one of the festival's most-shared social moments.
Consumer brands embraced experiential storytelling throughout the venue. Vitaminwater created a vibrant activation featuring product sampling, custom body painting, and social-media-friendly photo opportunities. Coca-Cola's Cherry Coke experience offered tastings, giveaways, a claw machine, charm-making stations, and immersive photo moments, driving consistent engagement throughout the day.
Beam Suntory activated across multiple touchpoints, including a dedicated -196 lounge offering tastings and product sales, as well as a Hornitos Tequila cocktail bar that remained a popular destination throughout the event.
Additional experiences included complimentary photo keepsakes from Customer Copy's photobooth, charging stations from ChargeGoGo, arcade gaming powered by Something New, product sampling from Psilly Goose, Silk The Rich, and Awake Chocolate, premium hospitality experiences from Love.com, Dear Caviar, and Delicious Minis, as well as complimentary beauty and wellness services from KYE Hair Experience and Pinklicious Nails.
Together, the activations transformed Pier Play from a traditional music festival into a fully immersive brand ecosystem, demonstrating RASA World's ability to create meaningful engagement opportunities for partners while enhancing the attendee experience.
The event's impact extended far beyond the festival grounds. More than 260 influencers attended the event, representing a combined social audience exceeding 100 million followers. Festival-related creator content generated substantial online engagement, while attendees produced more than 2,090 Instagram posts and thousands of stories from user-generated content, helping drive nearly one million unique accounts and more than one million social engagements surrounding the festival and 4.5M impressions.
The momentum surrounding Pier Play reflects RASA World's broader business strategy, which combines proprietary event formats, experiential marketing, creator ecosystems, and enterprise event production on a single platform.
Through ATELIER by RASA, the company's experiential production division, RASA designs and produces custom experiences for brands seeking deeper audience engagement. Recent projects include Delta Air Lines' 80th Anniversary celebration in Miami, where ATELIER transformed Delta's global partnerships into immersive environments that allowed airline executives, partners, and VIP guests to experience the airline's history through curated storytelling and design.
RASA will also produce HawkeFest on October 1 in partnership with Hawke Media, further expanding its corporate and branded event portfolio while demonstrating the company's ability to create experiences for both consumer audiences and enterprise clients.
As experiential marketing continues to grow in priority for brands seeking authentic consumer engagement and first-party audience relationships, RASA World is positioning itself at the intersection of entertainment, culture, technology, and brand experience.
With expansion underway, a growing roster of brand partners, increasing audience demand, and new markets on the horizon, the latest edition of Pier Play shows the emergence of a scalable national platform designed to redefine how brands, creators, artists, and consumers connect in the real world.
Tickets for the October 3-4 Pier Play Festival at the Santa Monica Pier are currently available through presale registration.
For more information, visit rasa.fyi.
About RASA World
RASA World is an experiential tech company creating large-scale festivals, branded experiences, and immersive cultural events across North America and the world. Through proprietary event brands, including Pier Play, Thrill City, and Portalverse, as well as its enterprise production division, ATELIER, and audience infrastructure platform, TABULAH, RASA World helps brands and communities connect through unforgettable real-world experiences
Media Contact:
Nadya Rousseau
(310) 853-3798
SOURCE: RASA World
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/business-and-professional-services/rasa-world-reports-triple-digit-growth-across-its-pier-play-fest-1183474
