Craig Muller, founder and co-general manager of Uno Loco, says hosting successful events isn’t about protecting the plan. It’s about recognising the moments that matter and adapting quickly to seize them.
If you’ve read my recent NZ Marketing magazine article on the non-negotiables of choosing the right event partner, you’ll know that speed and agility made the list.
Not because they sound good on a capabilities deck, but because at some point, on some event, you’ll need them. Badly.
And I’m sure most marketers wouldn’t need to go too far back into their archives to find an “oh shit” moment.
This is one of those stories.
Thankfully, it has a happy ending.
Red to green – Vodafone to One New Zealand
We were deep in production for one of New Zealand’s most significant brand transition events. One New Zealand, formerly Vodafone, was preparing to launch its new identity through simultaneous events across multiple cities.
Everything was locked in. Content approved. Venues confirmed. Teams preparing to deploy.
Then, five days out, we got the call.
The goalposts hadn’t just moved. They’d been relocated to another field.
One New Zealand had secured its partnership with SpaceX, bringing 100% mobile coverage to Aotearoa for the first time in history. For a brand launching under the promise of being truly local, there couldn’t have been a more powerful opening statement.
The opportunity couldn’t wait. It had to become part of the launch.
Immediately.
NDAs were signed. A tight inner circle was formed. An event we’d spent months perfecting suddenly had a new centrepiece.
Additional production. New content. New sequencing. A multi-centre broadcast. A new hero moment.
All of it needed to be conceived, built and delivered in less than a working week while our team was already spread across the country delivering the original event.
This was the “oh shit” moment.
The point where you either run for the door or roll your sleeves up.
Guess which one we did.
Georgia Mahaffie, One New Zealand brand and marketing general manager, says: “Honestly, ‘Day One’ for One NZ could have gone a million different ways. We were launching a new brand, announcing SpaceX to the country, and trying to make 3,000 people feel it all at once.
“What Uno Loco got, that most people don’t, is that the internal moment matters as much as the external one. The experience they built was beyond what we imagined, and somehow still dead simple. We wouldn’t have pulled this off without them.”
What made the difference
Three things got us through.
First, agility. Not as a buzzword, but as a capability built through years of solving problems when plans inevitably change.
Second, partnership. When the pressure was on, there was no finger-pointing, no scope debates and no protecting territory.
Third, collaboration. Ego had no place in the room. Agencies, partners and teams came together with a singular focus: delivering for One New Zealand.
And we did.
The SpaceX announcement landed exactly as intended. The transition from red to green became the powerful brand moment it was meant to be. And One New Zealand’s biggest day unfolded exactly as it should have, even if it looked nothing like the plan we’d had six days earlier.
The lesson for marketers
Every major event starts with a plan.
The best ones don’t end with the same plan.
Markets change. Priorities shift. Stakeholders change direction. Sometimes the most important announcement of the day doesn’t exist until a week before it happens.
For marketers, that’s the lesson.
Success isn’t about protecting the plan. It’s about recognising the moments that matter and adapting quickly enough to seize them.
Because the biggest opportunities rarely arrive at convenient times, and the teams that respond best are usually the ones that have been tested before.
