{"id":401100,"date":"2026-04-28T06:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T06:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/401100\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T06:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T06:19:11","slug":"events-are-now-a-core-part-of-the-marketing-funnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/401100\/","title":{"rendered":"Events are now a core part of the marketing funnel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Craig Muller, founder and co-general manager of Uno Loco<\/a>, shares tips on hosting events and insights into global B2B<\/a> event spending trends.<\/p>\n

Looking at global trends in B2B marketing, it\u2019s clear that NZ marketers are under-investing in events. I wanted to share some of the data we\u2019re seeing<\/a>, and also some of the best-practice we\u2019re seeing from clients locally who treat business events as a core part of their marketing mix.<\/p>\n

As I highlighted in the March 2026 issue of\u00a0NZ Marketing magazine<\/a>, according to 2026 trend reports, about 58% of B2B marketers expect to increase their event budgets this year. In the tech sector alone, events now account for nearly 25% of total marketing spend. And globally, the events industry is on track to hit $2.33 trillion in value.<\/p>\n

Those are some big numbers.<\/p>\n

The post pandemic hunger for genuine, in-person connection certainly hasn\u2019t faded<\/a>.\u00a0Just ask any event companies how hard it is to find a good venue on the dates you need!<\/p>\n

Designed to inspire and connect<\/p>\n

According to Kande* over 78% of organisers now rate in-person events as their most impactful marketing channel, ahead of paid media and digital advertising.\u00a0Our attendees have also reset their expectations with 54% saying they plan to attend more in-person events than last year**, arriving with much higher standards for experience quality and meaningful networking.<\/p>\n

At Uno Loco, we run a wide variety of business events for corporates from conferences to nationwide roadshows, incentives. However, increasingly our B2B clients are designing events with us that are a core part of their marketing funnel.<\/p>\n

Xero, a long standing client of ours runs their Xero Partners Advisory Summit (XPAS) and is a wonderful standout example of B2B event strategy done right in our market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bringing together Xero\u2019s top accounting partners, directors and key decision makers, XPAS isn\u2019t a conference in the traditional sense. It\u2019s a carefully curated experience designed to inspire, build genuine connection and drive meaningful conversations within Xero\u2019s most important professional community.<\/p>\n

These aren\u2019t passive attendees filling seats. They\u2019re the people who influence how thousands of businesses across New Zealand engage with Xero\u2019s platform every day.<\/p>\n

Invest in face-to-face experiences <\/p>\n

Getting that room right \u2013 and getting the experience right for that room \u2013 is both a relationship investment and a business-critical one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a world where everyone is time-poor and digitally saturated, the value of getting the right people in the same room \u2013 genuinely connecting and having real conversations \u2013 is irreplaceable. That\u2019s why we continue to invest in face-to-face experiences at this level,\u201d says Maree Lawrence, head of events, ANZ, Xero.<\/p>\n

Having that simple mindset of \u2018audience first\u2019 \u2013 I know right, who would have thought? \u2013 is what I believe separates brands who treat events as a line item from those who treat them as a genuine lever.<\/p>\n

The marketers getting the most from their event investment in 2026 aren\u2019t necessarily the ones spending the most.\u00a0 They are the ones being most intentional \u2013 about their audience, their outcomes and who they trust to bring it to life.<\/p>\n

Xero\u2019s approach to XPAS is a great example of exactly that thinking in action. And if you\u2019d like to talk about what that could look like for your brand, you know where to find us. And trust me, we always up for a chat!<\/p>\n

* Kande Event Statistics 2026
** Bizzabo State of Events Benchmark Report 2026
*** Bizzabo State of Events Benchmark Report 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Craig Muller, founder and co-general manager of Uno Loco, shares tips on hosting events and insights into global…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69,20962],"class_list":["post-401100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-online-exclusive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}