• May 11, 2026

Why pharma is emerging as a growth market for event agencies

Why pharma is emerging as a growth market for event agencies

Why pharma is emerging as a growth market for event agencies 1024 683 micebook.

There has been a noticeable increase in interest around the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector from event agencies over the past few months.

In recent months, Identity acquired healthcare specialist Coda, emc3 Collective launched healthcare division emc3 Life and ITA Group acquired C2 Events, while several other agencies are also understood to be exploring moves into the pharma sector.

That could, of course, all be coincidence. But it feels more like the early signs of a wider shift.

Historically, pharma and healthcare have sat slightly outside the mainstream events world. It is a highly specialist sector with significant barriers to entry, from compliance and regulation through to stakeholder complexity and scientific understanding.

For years, that has made it a difficult market for agencies without sector expertise to break into. But there are signs that the market is evolving.

In a recent recruitment trends report, event industry recruiter Robert Kenward predicted a “bumper year” for agencies focused on pharma and healthcare, describing the sector as a high-growth area with strong long-term potential.

Kenward said pharma events are increasingly moving towards more creative, experience-led formats inspired by faster-moving sectors such as tech. “Pharma has traditionally been more transactional, but now it’s looking at how to create more engaging experiences without losing the scientific integrity,” he said.

That growing demand for more experience-led healthcare events was one of the factors behind emc3 Collective’s decision to launch emc3 Life earlier this year.

“There’s definitely more appetite to be creative and do something differently and make an impact,” said Jan Wittkopp, who heads up the recently launched emc3 Life division.

Wittkopp, who has spent nearly 25 years working in healthcare events, said pharma companies are increasingly looking at sectors such as tech and software for inspiration around experience design, engagement and personalisation.

“Everybody wants to make sure attendees leave with something valuable, because otherwise what’s the point of investing all this money?” he explained.

For emc3, the move into healthcare was organic rather than through acquisition. Wittkopp said the business had already been working with pharma clients, while a growing number of healthcare specialists had joined the wider group across creative, production, content and account management roles.

The agency also saw an opportunity to combine that expertise with emc3’s existing strengths around sustainability and experience design.

“The other thing that is really quite exceptional at emc3 is sustainability,” said Wittkopp, pointing to the agency’s EcoVadis Gold rating and B Corp status as factors increasingly valued by healthcare clients.

Identity, meanwhile, has taken a different route into the sector through acquisition.

Speaking about the decision to acquire Coda, Identity founder Michael Gietzen said the move formed part of a wider strategic effort to diversify the group’s sector expertise globally.

“We clearly wanted to expand into what has always been an exciting sector,” he said. “What we noticed over the past several years is the growing emphasis on experiences from healthcare brands.”

Gietzen believes the pharma sector is now entering what he describes as a “golden age of experience”, with healthcare brands increasingly looking at how other industries use storytelling and audience engagement to communicate complex messages.

“What attracts us most is how the sector is evolving,” he said. “Healthcare brands are looking at how other industries use storytelling and experience to communicate, inspire and engage audiences more effectively.”

Despite growing interest, both agencies stressed that pharma remains a difficult sector to enter without specialist expertise.

“There are higher barriers to entry,” said Wittkopp, pointing to the complexity of navigating different compliance rules across countries, delegates and markets.

At the same time, both emc3 and Identity Coda push back against the long-held perception that pharma events are creatively restrictive.

“I think probably a lot of people might think it’s too restricted and boring and not very exciting,” Wittkopp said. “But we’ve done some phenomenal work.”

Coda co-founder Mark Thompson agreed: “People believe that because it’s so restricted and driven by compliance, you can’t be creative. But you can be creative. You have to.”

Instead, agencies are increasingly viewing compliance as a framework to work within rather than a barrier to creativity. That evolution is also being driven by changing audience expectations. With healthcare professionals are busier than ever, pharma brands are placing greater emphasis on engagement, personalisation and measurable impact.

“There’s more qualitative data that companies are looking at now,” Wittkopp explained. “It’s not just about having a booth and presence. It’s also about how many interactions they had and how they connected with the audience.”

The sector’s relative resilience is also proving attractive at a time when many agencies are navigating economic uncertainty and softer conditions in other markets.

In a challenging market for many agencies, healthcare’s longer planning cycles, regular congresses and ongoing product development can provide greater continuity and visibility than some other sectors.

As Coda’s Thompson explained: “If you’re bringing a drug to market, that process is still the same as it was 10 years ago,” said Thompson. “The investment is huge and can run into the billions, so there is always ongoing spend around education, engagement and events throughout that lifecycle.”

As more agencies look towards the sector, both Identity and emc3 believe specialist expertise and trust will remain critical differentiators.

“You have to protect the specialism,” said Gietzen. “Otherwise, you become a large machine that can’t be a specialist and a master of none.”

Whether through acquisition or organic growth, the increasing focus on pharma and healthcare suggests the sector may become one of the next major battlegrounds in the evolving agency landscape.

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