News

Auckland Armageddon Review

Posted November 4, 2016

2016 is nearly done, and the long work put into one of New Zealand’s biggest events has come to an end. This year’s Auckland Armageddon was held over 3 and half glorious days where 66,000 fans attended and made it one of our most successful events ever.

The Auckland event, our 21^st year, had our most diverse media guest line-up including an actual astronaut, Japanese anime creator, Australian and American cosplay stars, international comic guests and a wide range of media guests from Pretty Little Liars, The Flash, Supernatural, Superman, Star Trek and many more.

To see a great video of the event follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_-Ccn6eQSE

Of particular interest were our headline guests, with Christopher Lloyd and James and Oliver Phelps being exceptionally popular. Massive queues of Back to the Future and Harry Potter fans filled the celebrity signing and photo area, with Gryffindor scarfs being very noticeable in particular. Suicide Squad’s Karen Fukuhara and Star Trek legend Nichelle Nichols also had a considerable line of fans in attendance.

Our aim with this event is to make it both entertaining and unique each year – the variety of media guests ensures that we are something new every time we open the doors.

The gaming displays once again did not disappoint, with much more open areas within the Total Interactive, PB Tech and Microsoft areas than in the past, bringing attendees inside their zones. Fiveight and Nintendo both had considerable popularity as well, with a constant flux of gamers around them at all times, and the PlayStation area pulsed with its two levels overlooking the events crowds.

Armageddon has become THE benchmark gaming event for the country, something we are keen to build upon in coming years as the gaming and electronics industry continues to evolve and grow in new and unique areas.

The retail aspect of the event continues to be a huge feature of Armageddon at its heart with many different exhibitors from across New Zealand and the world attending. Armageddon is a unique event, and as such, the diversity of exhibitors is essential to the event’s success.

General pros and cons

Positives:

Huge increase in the celebrity guest interest at the event.
Opening additional access between halls 1 and 2 proved popular.
Online digital promotion of the event reached over 7 million.
Visually, the event has never looked or been promoted better.
Exhibitor quality of displays was incredible.

Negatives:

Access between halls 2 and 3 needs to be opened up as this proved to be a choke point. We will be adding an additional accessway to the halls.
More events need to be placed at the rear of the venue near hall 1 to drive attendees further into the show more consistently.
Signage still needs improving, particularly for the outer areas.