Building New Zealand's Biggest EV & Tech Expo From the Ground Up

New Zealand has never had an event like this. The NZ EV & Tech Expo, presented by Driven, brings the country's electric vehicle, hybrid, and technology brands together under one roof at Auckland Showgrounds this November, 13–15. Squid Group is the marketing lead behind it, running everything from brand identity through to the automotive relationships that fill the floor, and Laurence Carey fronts the event's media presence as its public voice.

The Brief

Launching a first-of-its-kind event means starting with nothing. No existing audience. No brand recognition. No sponsor relationships to lean on. Squid Group needed to build a brand from scratch, get it in front of the right people at scale, and convert that attention into ticket sales, exhibitor bookings, and sponsorship revenue, all before the doors had even opened once.

Our Role

Squid Group leads the Expo's marketing end to end: brand, strategy, media, content, and PR facilitation. We're also the key point of contact for securing automotive brand participation and structuring sponsorship deals, sitting between the event and the manufacturers and dealer groups who need convincing to show up. The campaign is built on media partnerships with NZME, Driven, and GoMedia, giving the Expo national reach across radio, automotive print and digital, and outdoor.

What We Did

Brand & Identity
Built the Expo's brand identity from the ground up, logo, visual system, and guidelines, designed to work across everything from digital ads to 15-metre billboards.

Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy
Planned and ran a full-funnel campaign across Google, Meta, and TikTok, backed by our media partnerships with the NZME radio network (Newstalk ZB, Coast, The Hits, ZM, Hauraki, Flavour), GoMedia and Outdoor Network billboards across Auckland, and Driven for print and digital reach. Paid activity is phased around key moments, including the announcement and a concentrated push in the weeks before the event.

PR Facilitation
Pead PR runs the Expo's PR programme, from embargoed announcements through to post-event wrap-up. Squid Group onboarded Pead and facilitates each release, keeping PR aligned with the paid and organic campaign rather than running in its own lane. Where the story needs a voice, Laurence steps in as the Expo's spokesperson, fronting media interviews on the event's behalf, including the launch interview on Herald NOW Business.

Brand & Sponsorship Acquisition
We're the key contact for bringing automotive brands into the Expo, structuring exhibitor packages from single-vehicle stands through to Title Sponsor naming rights, and negotiating directly with manufacturers and dealer groups on what participation looks like.

Video Content
Producing a video series that pairs supplied brand assets with on-camera interviews, giving each participating brand a lead-in story rather than a static booth listing.

Website & Lead Capture
Rebuilt the site to lead with substance: named speakers, session themes, and clear breakdowns by ticket type, backed by proper tracking and a lead capture flow to build the Expo's own database ahead of doors opening.

Early Momentum

The Expo only just went public, so there's no full campaign result to report yet. But the announcement did its job: five pieces of coverage in the first 24 hours, anchored by Laurence's on-camera interview for Herald NOW Business, with further write-ups in:

Combined potential audience reach on that single day: 289,300.

More to come as the campaign builds toward November.

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We do things differently at Squid, creating brands and experiences which evolve the way businesses are seen. We are based in Auckland, offering digital marketing, web design, web development, branding and content marketing across NZ and Australia

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