Apple Music x Super Bowl Halftime Party: Behind the Scenes of a Brand Event Floral Design in San Francisco
I'm always excited when one of my longstanding clients — a production team based in LA — comes to me with a new project. But when they told me they were planning Apple Music's Super Bowl Halftime party at their San Francisco Union Square store, honoring Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (aka Bad Bunny) I couldn't say yes fast enough.
Working with repeat clients is one of my favorite things about this industry. There's already a foundation of trust, a shared understanding of standards, and a clear decision-making process. In a world of fast-paced brand event production, that removes a lot of friction.
But the opportunity itself… The scale and visibility of this event was one thing. But the chance to weave Bad Bunny's visual world into such a recognizable brand, at an iconic San Francisco location, made this one of the most exciting projects I've taken on as a Bay Area floral designer.
The Brief: Brand Meets Culture
The event was Apple Music's Super Bowl Halftime party, hosted at the Apple Store in Union Square, San Francisco. So this wasn't a wide-open creative brief. As a high-profile brand activation with very specific creative parameters, direction was defined before I came onto the project.
Three reference points shaped the design:
Apple’s brand — clean, minimal, polished, design-forward
A homage to Puerto Rico through the lens of Bad Bunny — a palette anchored in tropical greens with hints of orange, red, and yellow
Environmental design references — pulled from early 2000s music videos
For the floral design, our job wasn't to start from scratch. It was to work within the established framework to ensure the florals felt aligned with the event environment and supported it without competing with it.
Where My Background Comes In
Before floristry, I worked in the San Francisco tech and corporate space. That background in account management directly shapes how I approach every brand and corporate event project in the Bay Area. In practice, this looks like:
Building a plan that can be executed quickly and accurately
Managing approvals and expectations across multiple stakeholders
Translating brand guidelines into physical, tangible design
Creating work that holds up both in person and on camera
This kind of structured, systems-driven approach is especially important for high-stakes corporate and brand events in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, where timelines are compressed and there's no room for ambiguity.
The Floral Brief: Modern-Minimal-Tropical
The floral brief called for a look that was modern, minimal, tropical, sculptural, and elevated. Just as important was what it was not: not lush, not dense, not traditional, not purely decorative.
"Simple" can be one of the most challenging briefs in floral design. In practice, it translates to edited, deliberate, and controlled, and it requires just as much intention as a maximalist arrangement, if not more. Our job was to balance the parts of "tropical" that can traditionally feel heavy and expected with a modern minimalism that didn't feel flat or stripped back.
Sourcing for Brand & Space Context
The original ask and vision from the client was to incorporate flowers native to Puerto Rico, specifically hibiscus, as a nod to Bad Bunny. Since hibiscus wasn't in season, we sourced local alternatives that evoked the same tropical look while staying on brief.
Each ingredient was evaluated for shape, silhouette, and color accuracy against the brand references provided. The approved list included:
Architectural greens —monstera, banana leaf, fan palm
Sculptural tropical stems —cymbidium orchid, bird of paradise, ginger
High-impact focals —gloriosa, poppies, pincushion protea
Light, airy texture —oncidium orchids
The final scope focused on two core elements: clean, minimal bud vase groupings for cocktail high-tops, and focal bar arrangements with sculptural impact, without overwhelming the space. Fewer stems, zero filler, hero florals only.
The Planning & Production Process
Brand events in the corporate world move fast, with a lot of stakeholders involved. To keep things clear and efficient, I divided responsibility across two clear lanes.
My lead producer on this event, Amanda, managed on-the-ground production: market sourcing and processing, studio design, packing, transportation, delivery, and install.
I handled creative direction oversight, budgeting and sourcing, client communication, and production planning and timeline.
Having defined roles and documented systems in place is more than an organizational preference; for corporate event floral work in a city like San Francisco where everything moves fast, it's what makes a tight timeline actually executable.
When the Flowers Aren't the Star
A lot of floral design work gives designers creative freedom and the flowers are the star.
This project was different. It was about working within someone else's vision and executing it at the highest level, using flowers as a tool to support an environment, reinforce a brand, and elevate an experience without overpowering it.
That requires precision in sourcing, discipline in design, a clear understanding of the bigger picture, and detailed project planning. The event was held in one of San Francisco's most high-profile retail locations, in front of a global audience, and the florals needed to disappear into the background of the overall design in the best possible way.
I find this challenge so energizing. And it's the type of work I've built my Bay Area floral studio around.
Planning a Brand or Corporate Event in the Bay Area?
If you're a planner or brand team in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, or the greater Bay Area looking for a floral designer who integrates seamlessly into a larger creative direction, this is the work I love to do. I bring a background in Bay Area tech and corporate environments, a systems-driven production approach, and a deep understanding of what it means to design for brand.