The marketing world is just coming off the buzz of Cannes Lions, the premier stage for brand activations and creativity. The energy and excitement surrounding this event clearly shows that brand experiences are having a moment. This speaks to a broader signal that the way we engage audiences is changing. For pharma, which has typically relied on vigorous product marketing and a focus on the physician, this shift toward experiential engagement for consumers (patients) offers both a challenge and an opportunity.

Pharma is already playing in this space. Novartis just became the NFL’s first official pharmaceutical partner, supporting health-focused initiatives like the “Crucial Catch” campaign for cancer detection. AbbVie launched a partnership with the Chicago Cubs to “Strike Out Cancer,” turning every strikeout into a charitable moment. AstraZeneca is riding the pickleball wave with interactive on-site education for its asthma treatment Fasenra.

These types of sponsorships show that pharma fully understands the changing face of the healthcare sector, and there is a strong role for real-world engagement to play in building emotional connection with end users. And when it’s done right, it earns trust in ways traditional ads never could. But as these experiences become more common, so does the pressure to prove they work.

The experiential measurement gap

The pharma marketing industry knows how to track impressions. It knows how to calculate CPMs. It even knows how to estimate reach and frequency across fragmented digital ecosystems. But what about the fan who walked away from a health-focused activation feeling more informed? Or the caregiver who had a meaningful exchange at a local event and decided to follow up with their doctor?

These are the moments that matter. And yet, they’re often invisible in traditional measurement frameworks. In healthcare, especially in pharma, the stakes are higher. Activations are about more than short-term sales or product recall: they’re about long-term awareness, emotional resonance, and behavioral influence. They’re about helping someone take the next step in their health journey, even if it’s just a conversation with their physician.
This requires us to expand how we define and measure ROI. Because in this space, the return on experience is just as critical as the return on investment.

What it takes to measure real-world impact

To do this well, measurement needs to match the moment. It needs to be fast, contextual, and grounded in what people actually felt during the experience, not what they remembered weeks later in a generic post-event survey.

That’s the philosophy behind BXP (Brand Experience Predictor), which gives healthcare marketers a more complete, end-to-end view of how their activations are performing. And when we talk about performance, we don’t just mean post-event recall. We’re looking at three essential pillars that matter in pharma:

• Intent to Engage: Did the activation drive curiosity, prompt behavior, or motivate a conversation with a healthcare provider?
• Intent to Share: Did it inspire social amplification, word of mouth, or personal storytelling?
• Brand Impact: Did the experience leave people with a stronger emotional connection or a clearer understanding of the brand's purpose?

This approach allows us to support pharma companies not just after an event, but across the entire lifecycle:

• Pre-event: We help teams test different activation ideas before launch, predicting which formats will perform best across emotional, behavioral, and social metrics.
• In the moment: Through mobile-first, conversational feedback and video responses, we capture real-time reactions on site—while the experience is still fresh and authentic.
• Post-event: We re-engage attendees quickly to understand brand lift, behavior change, and long-term impact.

It’s a unified framework that respects the complexity of healthcare while bringing modern measurement tools to the table. It works just as well for high-profile sponsorships as it does for intimate grassroots activations, and can adapt to legal and regulatory nuances along the way.

Why this matters now

Pharma’s marketing budgets are shifting. Digital still dominates (pharma is expected to spend nearly $20 billion on digital advertising in the U.S. this year) but experiential is growing fast. Global spending on brand experiences exceeded $128 billion last year, up more than 10% year-over-year. That kind of investment demands accountability. 

The good news? People respond to experiences. According to our latest data:

• 56% of U.S. adults say brand experiences make them feel more emotionally connected to a brand
• 55% are more likely to share or talk about a brand after a meaningful experience
• 43% say experiences increase their desire to try a brand

Those aren’t just impressions, but represent intention to take action.

More than a moment, this is a movement

Pharma companies are recognizing that the most important brand-building tool might just be the ability to show up, thoughtfully, meaningfully, and memorably, in real life. This is not just a trend. 

We’re working with teams who are investing in grassroots events for underserved communities, who are setting up wellness stations at concerts, who are rethinking the role of brand in caregiving moments. These are quiet, powerful steps toward better health engagement. But none of it means much if you can’t measure the impact.

If pharma wants to own this space, it needs to go beyond sponsorship decks and media impressions. It needs real-time feedback from real people, in the context of their lived experiences. It needs measurement that’s as modern and human as the activations themselves.

The industry doesn’t need more flash, but it can use deeper understanding. That’s what meaningful measurement delivers. Because when you listen closely to how people engage in the moment, you get insight into why it mattered and what had the most impact. 

Image taken from Fierce Pharma.