David Badounts is a Creative Director for major brands.
YouTube’s Coachella campaign was a milestone moment for the platform, one of its most culturally charged and visually ambitious efforts to date. As the exclusive livestreaming partner for the festival, YouTube brought both weekends of Coachella to a global audience across YouTube Shorts, Instagram, X, and more. The visual direction leaned into the spirit of the California desert, building a visual language shaped by arid landscapes, native wildlife, and expansive desert vistas. This system informed everything from typography to motion design, helping to shape an identity that felt both grounded in place and tailored for a Gen Z audience.
The team developed and deployed over a thousand assets across the full campaign arc, including teaser content, real-time artist moments, and surprise drops. Working both onsite and remotely, a team of designers, animators, and editors captured performances in real time and turned them into platform-native content within hours, often minutes, especially for YouTube Shorts. Every piece was crafted to feel elevated and intentional, building a cohesive experience across social channels that positioned YouTube not just as a livestream host but as a creative partner to the culture.
The results reflected the strength of the approach. Engagement jumped 66 percent compared to the previous year, with widespread amplification from fans, influencers, and artists including Billie Eilish, who shared campaign content directly on her own channels. Internally, YouTube called it one of the best Coachella activations they had ever launched, an effort that set a new standard for real-time storytelling and festival-era social design.
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Role: Social + Creative Director
Client: YouTube
