Backing a great event with the marketing horsepower to match
We recently had the great pleasure of supporting our friends at Apparelmaster with the marketing and creative production behind their 2026 Conference and Gala Awards weekend; an action-packed three days that Apparelmaster hosted across two of Auckland's finest waterfront venues, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in Westhaven and the stunning Park Hyatt Auckland at the Wynyard Quarter.
Apparelmaster put together a fantastic weekend with a tight programme of business sessions, a trade event packed with delegates from across New Zealand, and a Cocktail Lounge themed Gala Awards Dinner to cap it off. Our job was to back it up with the marketing strategy presentation, branded conference collateral, a delegate activation, and full event capture across photography, video and drone. Here's how that came together.
Growth marketing strategy presentation
We kicked our weekend off on Thursday with our growth marketing strategy presentation for the year ahead, delivered to the Apparelmaster group at the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron. Walking a client's wider team through where their digital marketing is heading; the channels, the campaigns, the measurement framework, and how it all ladders up to commercial outcomes. This is one of the most rewarding parts of what we do. Lots of good questions, lots of good conversations afterwards. Always a sign of a room that's switched on.
Branded stands, media walls & conference collateral
A conference can live or die on how it looks, and we wanted Apparelmaster's brand to land properly across both venues. Storm produced the branded conference media stand and other print collateral for the trade event using photography and video from recent on-location shoots we did across the country earlier in the year. We situated branded collateral at the Squadron and a full suite of branded collateral for the Gala Awards Dinner at the Park Hyatt's Harbour Room, signage, print, the media wall, the lot. The Park Hyatt is hard to beat as a venue (floor-to-ceiling glass, massive atrium, marina lit up outside), and the brand work needed to live up to it.
The delegate headshot studio
This one was the showstopper. On the Friday trade day we set up a full professional portrait photography studio at our stand complete a proper three-point light rig, professional backdrop, and our photographer running headshots all day. Conference delegates walked away with a professionally-shot head-and-shoulders portrait to use on their LinkedIn profile and website. No charge, no catch.
It went off. We had a steady stream of delegates through the studio the whole day, plenty of laughs, and the lighting was kind to everyone (which is the entire point of a three-point setup, really). Giving people something genuinely useful to take home, rather than another branded pen — This is the kind of activation we love putting together and we outdid previous high points with branded arcade machines, VR experiences and evening digital table tennis.
Event photography, video & drone coverage
Alongside the portrait studio, our team ran stills photography, video production, and drone coverage across the weekend, capturing the trade floor, the presentations, the venues, the gala and the general vibe for Apparelmaster's post-event marketing library.
Apparelmaster's Friday programme included some sharp business-focused sessions, with a standout keynote from Cameron Bagrie of Bagrie Economics on the state of the New Zealand economy and the global headwinds ahead. Cameron delivered the kind of plain-spoken commentary delegates were still talking about over drinks.
Saturday gave us a beautiful sunny day to get the drone up over the Wynyard Quarter and the Park Hyatt and Auckland's waterfront in good weather doesn't really need a sales pitch. Delegates spent the day on Apparelmaster's organised tours, including the Auckland Harbour Bridge Climb and a trip out to Urbanaut Brewing Co., before everyone came back to the Harbour Room for the gala that evening.
Thanks for having us
A huge thanks to the Apparelmaster and Linenmaster teams for putting together such a brilliant weekend and for trusting us with the marketing and creative side of it, the strategy presentation, the branded stands and media walls, the portrait studio, and the photo, video and drone coverage. And thanks to every delegate who jumped in front of our cameras with such good humour. We came away with a lot of great content, a lot of great conversations, and a fresh appreciation for how good Auckland's waterfront can look when the weather plays ball.
If you've got a conference, AGM or event on the horizon and you're looking for a marketing partner to lift the production value with branded stands and media walls, professional event photography and video, drone coverage, or a delegate activation people will actually remember, get in touch. We'd love to talk.
