Media Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
27 April 2006
New website corners the NZ events market
In just three months, EVENTFINDER has become New Zealand’s definitive events website.
Frustration was the catalyst for the inception of Eventfinder. Founding Director, Michael Turner, was continually
frustrated by reading through Monday’s newspaper only to find reviews of events he would have attended had he known
about them.
“It was frustrating not having a single, authoritative online resource where you could look up coming events from around
the country across a broad subject range,” said Michael.
“We came up with the idea based on the premise that people would get out more if they knew what was on.”
Over the first six months of 2005 Michael and his team thoroughly researched the online events market and wrote a
comprehensive and savvy business plan. Utilising his ten years’ experience in the IT industry, mainly as an Internet
Strategist, Michael and his team quickly realised people wanted a user-friendly, one-stop method for finding events.
“Most people don’t know what they want to go to until they see it advertised,” said Michael. “That’s why we came up with
the system for navigating by location, date, and categories like Arts, Music and Sports.”
After seven months development and testing, the Eventfinder site went live on 23 January 2006 and traffic has grown
dramatically from day one. The site has attracted over 20,000 users since then, and in March alone served over 42,000
pages to more than 12,000 users.
“We were a bit taken by surprise by the immediate surge in popularity,” Michael said. “We’ve already had to add more
hardware to cope with demand.”
One of the differentiators of the site is that businesses and individuals can sign up for an account on the spot and
start adding their own events.
“We found during our research that businesses want a cost-effective and immediate channel for promoting events. Compared
to other media like newspaper and magazine advertising, Eventfinder allows organisers and promoters to access a huge
audience at a very low cost. Details can be updated at anytime, day or night, at no extra cost, and changes are
immediate.”
Eventfinder is currently offered in five plans that range from “free” (which lets you manage one event) to $99.90/month
for the 100-event Premium Plan. Options are also available to include images, organisation or company profiles, and
links to event websites and booking agencies.
“We insisted on keeping a free option, so communities and charities without any marketing budget can still get their
event noticed by the wider public,” said Michael. “We’ve helped promote events for charities like the Starship
Foundation and organisations like the Auckland Philharmonia, Royal New Zealand Ballet and Soccer New Zealand.”
“It’s a zero-risk option for business, as account plans can be upgraded or downgraded at any time, so it can be tailored
to your budget and events schedule.”
Eventfinder – you need to get out more. www.eventfinder.co.nz
ENDS