NZME. boosted by acquisition of regional events

Photo / File

NZME. hopes to grow the profile and size of events in Tauranga after acquiring nine regional events owned by Peacock Productions, including the Women's Lifestyle Expo.

It has also taken over eight other wedding, home and women's life-style events run by the company in Dunedin, Invercargill, Christchurch, Wellington, Palmerston North and Hamilton. NZME. group strategy and operations director Carolyn Luey said she hoped the company, which owns the Bay of Plenty Times, would be able to use its connections to see the events become bigger than ever.

"We will be levering off NZME.'s channels and platforms to grow the events," she said.

She hoped to attract more exhibitors as well as increasing attendance.

The company already runs the indulge Bay Model and is this year launching the Down to Earth Sustainability and Lifestyle Expo.

The new acquisition means this year's Women's Lifestyle Expo on August 29-30 will also be run by NZME.

Peacock Promotions owners Rob and Christine Woodhouse will be retained as consultants for the remainder of 2015 and their 10 staff will continue to provide dedicated resource to enable expansion of the number of events delivered in the regions. Ms Luey said the new dedicated regional events team would focus on growing the existing events first.

"Regional expos and events are exceptionally popular with over 80,000 people attending in the past 12 months.

"The potential for businesses to engage with consumers is massive at a local community level in the North and South islands as a result of this acquisition."

Bay of Plenty and Waikato marketing manager Samantha Wilkie agreed it was a great acquisition for the company.

"It strengthens our portfolio of events within Tauranga.

"The Tauranga Women's Lifestyle Expo is a great fit with the annual indulge events that we run and have expanded on each year.

"Expanding the number of NZME. events in Tauranga also provides more engagement opportunities for our local clients, which is really exciting."