October 15, 2026
Welcome to The Monthly Muse, where we unpack celebrity and influencer engagement in healthcare. Each month, we’ll spotlight the news or trends that are breaking through, along with our musings on what it means for healthcare companies.
The Shift
This summer brought another massive festival season with events like Lollapalooza, Outside Lands and Bonnaroo gathering hundreds of thousands of fans on the ground (and millions more like me scrolling from the comfort of home!).
Consumer brands leveraged festival grounds and celebrity spokespeople more than ever this year to create immersive, experiential activations that captured a hyper-engaged audience.
A few standout examples:
- Neutrogena (Lollapalooza): As the official suncare sponsor, Neutrogena created interactive onsite and offsite hubs with free samples. Their Hydro Boost Juicy Lab offered shade, hydration and an opportunity to measure skin hydration levels while promoting their Hydro Boost Water Gel product.
- Always and Secret (Coachella): The brands Always and Secret teamed up to create The Refresh Room, designed to tackle the real struggle of finding a clean (and product stocked) bathroom at festivals, especially with the added stress of period anxiety and sweat. They also worked with mid-tier and micro influencers to create authentic, GRWM and “day in the life” content directly from the activation.
- L.O.L. Surprise! x Jennie (Lollapalooza): The popular toy brand teamed with global music icon and headliner Jennie for a massive interactive brand activation, LOL Surprise! The campaign featured a life-sized Jennie doll photo-op, custom music festival friendship kandi bracelets, a surprise disco ball unboxing wall with exclusive merchandise and a special edition Jennie doll collaboration.
The Data
Why are brands making such massive investments in live music? Because live music is now the world’s top form of entertainment, surpassing both sports and film according to Live Nation’s Living for Live survey of 40,000 people across 15 countries.
For many, concerts are about so more than just having a good time. They’re about community and personal identity:
- 85% of respondents say music shapes who they are; 84% say live experiences give them “the most life.”
- 77% say the crowd makes them feel like they are part of something bigger.
The brands who are tapping into these cultural moments in an increasingly digital world are winning favor, building trust among consumers who feel they are enhancing their live music experiences.
The Musing
Which brings us to the big question: Can pharma companies find harmony at music festivals and concerts?
The short answer: A resounding yes.
As consumer healthcare brands start to pave the way, pharmaceutical brands can and should follow — they might just have to get a bit more creative.
The Takeaways
- Align to culture, don’t interrupt it: People don’t attend festivals because they want healthcare information. They go to have fun and connect — so meet them in that space and reimagine your typical messaging and approach. If you’re launching an insomnia campaign, skip the canned CTAs around sleep hygiene, symptoms and talking to your doctor. Instead, create a peaceful meditation lounge or a sound bath experience that offers fans a valuable experience and creates a natural bridge to introduce the conversation.
- Giveaways are off the table, but experiences are fair game: You don’t need free product giveaways to win over a crowd. If you’re teaming up with a celebrity spokesperson who happens to be headlining, host an intimate fireside chat or Q&A at your pop-up. These intimate activations offer fans an unforgettable moment grounded in their personal health stories, while also giving your audience exclusive access and insights to the celebrities they know and love.
- Think beyond the festival grounds: Your festival activation is the cultural climax of your campaign, but it shouldn’t be the only lever you pull. Kick off the festival with an earned media day with your spokesperson, activate on their social channels, consider an on-stage surprise and delight moment, blanket the local community with OOH ads … the possibilities for surround-sound impact are endless.
Summer may be behind us, but planning for next year’s lineup starts now. To explore how festival and concert activations can elevate your health communications, connect with the Muse team.
By Sonya Sharif, Group Senior Vice President, at Muse, GCI Group’s celebrity and influencer offering. With extensive expertise in healthcare communications and marketing, Sonya’s passion is leading large-scale, integrated campaigns that fuse consumer, HCP and advocacy strategies to drive behavior change and business impact.