The Challenge

Tour announcements are critical commercial moments for live music promoters, but traditional marketing was struggling to break through with younger audiences.

Gen Z and millennial fans increasingly rely on peer recommendations and creator culture rather than brand messaging. For Live Nation, the challenge was to transform tour announcements from marketing posts into cultural moments that fans actually want to engage with and share.

The Strategic Shift

Rather than running traditional influencer campaigns, I led the development of Live Nation Pulse, a creator advocacy program designed to embed fan voices directly into Live Nation’s marketing ecosystem.

Pulse flipped the typical influencer model. Instead of paying creators purely for reach, we built a value-exchange community where passionate fans and creators receive exclusive experiences — such as early access to tour announcements, tickets, and VIP events — in return for authentic content.

The program turned creators into collaborators rather than amplifiers, allowing Live Nation to market with fans instead of to them.

Key Workstreams

Creator Community & Recruitment

I led the strategy and ongoing management of a curated creator community across Sydney, Melbourne, and Auckland, spanning music fans, DJs, comedians, lifestyle creators, and festival audiences.

Creators ranged from 10K–500K followers, prioritising cultural relevance and genuine fandom over scale.

Announcement-Day Content Strategy

Working closely with Live Nation’s marketing team, I oversaw the translation of dozens of tour announcements each month into concise creator briefs designed for TikTok and Instagram.

Creators received announcements under NDA days before they were public, enabling content to go live the moment tickets dropped — turning announcement day into a coordinated social moment.

The Pulse Points Advocacy System

To drive sustained participation, I helped develop the Pulse Points system, a gamified reward structure where creators earned points for activities like posting at announcement, attending shows, or spotlighting emerging artists.

Points unlocked premium experiences, reinforcing the program’s focus on long-term advocacy rather than one-off campaigns.

Content Amplification Strategy

Top-performing creator content was selectively boosted through paid media, allowing Live Nation to scale authentic fan storytelling into mass reach while rewarding creators whose content performed strongest.

The Outcome

From February–December 2025, Live Nation Pulse transformed how tours were marketed across Australia and New Zealand.

The program activated 120+ creators who produced over 1,400 pieces of content, generating 23M+ video views and sustaining conversation from announcement through to live shows. Awards Submission Write Up_2026

Paid amplification of creator content drove 11M+ impressions, 5M+ reach, and 348K+ clicks to ticket destinations with a 3.4% average CTR — with some campaigns reaching 14.5% CTR, significantly outperforming industry benchmarks. Awards Submission Write Up_2026

Using 1000heads’ Creator Effect measurement framework, the program generated $1,182,928 in value, delivering 2.7× ROI against program investment. Awards Submission Write Up_2026

The work was recognised globally, earning Silver at The Drum Awards for Marketing in the Influencer & Creator Partnerships category.