Wellness experiences are the new luxury

For a growing number of brands, the most premium thing they can offer is time with experts, a full day spent on how you feel, and a room of people who care about the same things. Wellness summits, retreats and live recordings have become some of the most sought-after experiences we produce as an experiential marketing agency, and they run on a different set of rules than a launch party or a pop-up.

Here is what we have learned from wellness projects we have produced since 2018, and what each one taught us.

The timing is good for this kind of work. PQ Media reports that B2C experiential spend is pacing 10.9% growth in 2026, which it calls the fastest growth in a decade, and U.S. live consumer events grew 11.1% in 2025. Consumers are choosing to spend time at events, and wellness gives them a reason that goes beyond entertainment.

In goop Health: the summit as a brand experience

We have partnered with goop since 2018. The In goop Health summits bring the brand’s wellness point of view into a live conference setting. We have produced them in locations including the Park Hyatt Aviara in Carlsbad, in April 2024, and Los Angeles, in November 2024.

In 2021, BizBash’s Event Style Awards named the In goop Health summits among the Best Events of the Decade, in the category of Best Conference under 5,000 guests. One of the testimonials on our site reads: “The Goop Summit was the most elegant and gracefully executed event I’ve ever been to.”

The partnership has extended well beyond the summit format. Past projects include a goop League fitness weekend at The LINE Hotel in Austin in 2019 and goop at sea with Celebrity Cruises on the Italian Riviera and in France in 2022. Each one applied the same idea in a new setting: put the audience inside the lifestyle the brand writes about.

The podcast as a live event

A newer format in our work with goop is the live podcast taping. In September 2025 we produced a ticketed live taping of the goop podcast in New York with Gwyneth Paltrow and Cody Rigsby. In September 2026 the goop podcast was recorded live at 1 Hotel West Hollywood.

Live recordings work because the audience already has a relationship with the voices on stage. The event gives them a way to be in the room for something they usually hear alone. Demand for this kind of event is real. PPC Land, citing StubHub, reported that influencers, podcasters and authors sold 500% more tickets in 2025 than in 2024.

Production-wise, a live taping is a hybrid. It has to work as a show for the people in the seats and as clean audio for the episode. That means planning mic placement, room acoustics and audience reaction together, so the laughs and questions in the room come through on the recording.

The Function Function: science on stage

In December 2025, Function Health hosted its first-ever summit, The Function Function, in Los Angeles. We produced the event with more than 19 speakers, including Dr. Mark Hyman and the company’s co-founders, in a space built around biophilic design.

The design choice matters. A health summit asks people to sit, listen and absorb a lot of information. Biophilic design brings natural elements into the room, which makes a long day of content easier to sit through and reinforces what the brand stands for without a single sign. When the subject is health, the room should feel healthy.

Retreats: TRESemmé in Jackson Hole

Wellness also shows up in smaller, high-touch formats. The TRESemmé A-List Retreat brought 17 top influencers to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for a winter escape. We curated every touchpoint: personalized styling sessions, a custom charm bar, an A-List Lounge, an après-ski party, dinners and bespoke gifting.

A retreat is the most personal version of a brand experience. The guest list is small enough that every guest should be known by name, and the brand’s role is to be a good host. The aim was organic content and real brand affinity, and both depend on guests actually enjoying themselves. See the TRESemmé case study.

Arc’teryx Academy: wellness outdoors

Arc’teryx Academy at Mammoth Mountain shows the outdoor side of wellness. Over three days, the Academy welcomed more than 6,000 guests with backcountry clinics, the ReBird repair shop, Basecamp sponsor activations, The Hut Film Nights, après-ski programming and after-hours music sets. Twenty pro athletes took part, alongside four screenings, six headline DJs and two after parties. In 2026, the Backcountry Academy returned to Mammoth with a music lineup at 11,000 feet.

The Academy works because the brand teaches something real. Guests leave with skills they will use on their next trip, which is a deeper kind of brand affinity than a sample bag. Full details are on our Arc’teryx case study.

It is also a good example of community as the product. The weekend showed how investing in a community builds lasting brand affinity, drives organic social buzz and strengthens consumer loyalty. The programming ran from backcountry clinics to after-hours music sets, so the brand was present for the whole day rather than a single session. Arc’teryx was the host of a weekend its audience would have wanted anyway. For an outdoor brand, that is a more natural fit than a booth at a trade show, and it gives the brand’s athletes and gear a real setting.

What makes wellness experiences work

Real expertise on stage

Wellness audiences are informed and skeptical. They come for credible speakers and practitioners, and they notice when a panel is a sales pitch. Education is also a strong reason to attend in person. In Freeman’s 2026 research on people who skip events, 60% said they would be more likely to attend if an event offered education only available in person.

A room that matches the message

Light, air, sound, seating and food all send a message at a wellness event. Biophilic design at The Function Function and the mountain setting at Arc’teryx Academy are both examples of the space carrying the brand’s point of view.

Access that feels earned

Ticketed tapings, invite-only retreats and smaller summits make the experience feel like a privilege. Scarcity has to come with quality, though. If the experience disappoints, a premium ticket price makes it worse.

Something to take home

The best wellness events send guests home with a practice: a skill, a routine, a product they have actually tried. That is what keeps the brand in their life after the event ends.

Human connection

The wider industry is moving the same way. BizBash and Public School’s Cannes Lions 2026 trends report found brands leaning into “decidedly human” experiences. In Event Marketer’s EventTrack 2026, 59% of attendees said they feel more positive about a brand after an event, and 61% said they are more inclined to purchase. Wellness experiences are built on exactly that kind of connection.

Planning a wellness experience

A few production notes from our work:

• Build the speaker program first and design the space around it, not the other way around.
• Plan food and beverage as part of the content. At a wellness event, the menu is part of the message.
• Leave real downtime in the schedule. Guests notice when a wellness day is packed too tightly.
• For live recordings, bring audio engineering into the room plan early.
• For retreats, plan for weather and travel delays, and have a backup for every outdoor element.
• Decide how you will measure success before the event: ticket sales, attendance against capacity, content produced, press, and follow-up purchases are all fair measures, depending on the brief.

Most of our wellness work has been produced from our Los Angeles team, with projects in New York and on the road. If you are planning a summit, retreat or live recording, see our event marketing agency page or get in touch.