Unicorn Consulting
Every touchpoint at an event is a chance to tell a story. Every moment is an opportunity to share ideas and shift thinking.
Before the brief. Before the budget. Before the event.
Most businesses don't have clarity on the benefits that events can really deliver.
They're not sure whether events should be part of their strategy at all. Or they've been doing events for years without being able to explain how they're contributing to the bottom line. Or they've watched a significant event budget disappear into a room full of people who left feeling... fine.
Many businesses give up on events at that point. What they don't know is that there's a smarter, more effective way — and that the gap between an event that lands and one that doesn't comes down to the thinking that happens well before booking a venue.
This is where we come in. Not as an event company. As a business advisor with 30 years of experience understanding how people think, what moves them, and how to design experiences that change the way they see a brand, a strategy, or themselves.
We'll tell you honestly whether events will benefit your business. Sometimes the answer is not yet. Sometimes it's yes, but not the way you're thinking. Either way, you leave our conversation with more clarity than you had before.
Why well-designed events are a unique business communication tool
No email, campaign or broadcast commands the full presence and attention of the people receiving it. An event designed with intent removes distractions and creates a window to connect with people on a genuinely human level — to align them with a strategy, make them feel seen and valued, shift the way they think about your brand, or about themselves.
The evidence backs this up:
80% of people regard in-person events as the most trusted marketing channel
85% of customers are more likely to act after participating in a live experience
74% of consumers say engaging with branded event experiences makes them more likely to buy
In-person events are rated the number one most effective marketing tactic by industry professionals
The problem isn't that events don't work. It's that most events aren't designed to work.
What Unicorn Consulting does
We help organisations answer three questions:
Should we be doing events? If so, what kind, when, and why?
What should this event strategically achieve? How do we design it to do exactly that?
How do we make sure it delivers? From concept to blueprint to the guest experience on-site.
We start with your business objectives, your people, your brand purpose and values, and your honest constraints — including budget and resources. The more we understand about your world — your customers, your data, your market — the sharper the recommendation. From there we give you a clear, actionable plan. Something you can execute with confidence, knowing what it will cost and what it will deliver. Not a vague strategy document. Not a mood board.
We've created impactful and memorable events for organisations of every size: divisions of Australia's biggest banks, government bodies on the world stage, and businesses running their first ever staff gathering. The thinking is the same regardless of scale.
Three ways to work together
Thirty years of strategic and creative thinking. Three ways to access it.
Event Readiness & Strategy
The right starting point for most businesses
Best for: Organisations considering whether events should be part of their strategy — or those who've been doing events without being able to clearly articulate what they're achieving.
Before spending a dollar on an event, it's worth understanding whether events will realistically benefit your business, what type of event will have the most impact, and what a proper investment looks like. This is the engagement that saves businesses from spending money on an event before they're ready — or investing at the wrong scale and wondering why it didn't move the needle.
What you get: A clearly delivered assessment covering where events fit in your business strategy, what type of event will have the most impact, sequencing and priorities based on your business plan and available resources. This comes with a realistic investment guide — including honest advice on whether the timing is right.
Fee: from $6,000
Experience Design
For when you know you need an event and want it designed properly
Best for: A specific event or program that needs to achieve a specific business outcome, including recognition & incentive programs, brand & product launches, leadership retreats, conferences and bespoke projects.
We design the experience from the ground up: strategic objective, narrative, guest journey, every touchpoint from invitation to follow-up. The output is a complete blueprint — detailed enough for your internal team, an existing agency, or a new supplier to take into production with confidence. If you're not sure who should deliver it, we can help you figure that out too.
What you get: A complete event blueprint — concept, narrative, guest journey, venue direction, supplier brief, run-of-show framework, and budget allowances based on real-world experience. Thirty years of strategic and creative thinking, applied to your brief.
Fee: from $12,000
Strategic Advisory
Ongoing senior thinking, available when you need it
Best for: Organisations that need an experienced strategic mind and industry leader on an ongoing basis. Also valuable for businesses reviewing event budgets in a challenging financial climate — working out where to focus resources for maximum impact.
This might look like reviewing your existing event program to identify what to cut, keep, or do differently. Overseeing a supplier pitch to make sure the brief is sound and the responses properly evaluated. Mentoring an internal team or individual to lift their capability. Or being a trusted sounding board before significant decisions get made.
What you get: A set number of advisory days per month — available for briefs, reviews, pitch oversight, recommendations, or mentoring. Access to 30 years of experience without the overhead of a full-time hire.
Fee: from $3,500/month (minimum 3-month engagement)
What you don’t get
Vague recommendations no one can action. A strategy that ignores your budget parameters. Advice from someone who's never been in the room when things go wrong. A biased perspective from an existing supplier. The warm feeling of a great first meeting followed by disappointing output.
A few things we’ve done
The pitch brief we ignored — and why it worked
RAMS Home Loans included us in a competitive pitch with a clear brief for their annual events.
We read it, set it aside, and (politely) informed them that their entire events structure was working against them.
That conversation took courage, but it won us the pitch — and an ongoing partnership built on redesigning how they successfully engaged their franchise network.
The Australian Government wanted a presence at SXSW in Austin, Texas — the world's most competitive creative and innovation event.
We built the inaugural Australia House from scratch: concept, curation, stakeholder management across federal and state governments, Tourism Australia, and major corporate partners.
Awarded Best Pop-Up Activation in our inaugural year. The concept is still running strong in 2026.
When national pride was at stake
We convinced the senior leadership of one of Australia's largest banks to abandon purely financial rewards in favour of experiential recognition to retain their most valuable people.
What started as a brief for an annual awards event became a decade-long example of cultural architecture — and a measurable shift in how their people felt about the organisation.
Changing the culture of a Big 4 bank
Tourism New Zealand asked us to create a unique occasion for the global event industry showcasing NZ as a great business events destination. They were thinking dinner on a boat. We designed a custom table in the exact shape and scale of New Zealand, projection-mapped it to life throughout dinner — whales moving across the surface, landscapes shifting between courses. Every guest experienced the country before they booked a flight.
Positioning nature as innovation
About Ron Anderson
Ron Anderson has spent 30 years studying how people think and building experiences that change behaviour, build culture, and move businesses forward.
He began in automotive marketing at Honda Australia, where he identified and championed the launch of the CR-V into the Australian market before it became Honda's best-selling model. He moved into advertising, rising to Group Account Director and leading the relaunch of Renault into Australia. In 2006, he co-founded Unicorn Group, which became one of Australia's most respected business events agencies, trusted by blue-chip corporations, government bodies, and organisations across the Asia-Pacific.
He has curated and delivered experiences across the world for small and intimate groups of 10, up to 5,000+.
He thinks about events the way a strategist thinks about communication: every touchpoint is a chance to tell a story, every room full of people is an opportunity to share ideas and shift thinking. His sharpest skill is the ability to immerse himself in an organisation - its people, its culture, its tensions, and design meaningful experiences that land at the right moment.
He has been a regular keynote speaker at AIME (Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event), shared his strategic insights and experiences at SXSW (South by South West) in Austin, Texas and SITE (Society of Incentive Travel Excellence) Australia & New Zealand conferences, curated the SITE ANZ annual conference program in 2025, and has lectured in event management at tertiary level.
He is direct, honest, and allergic to bullshit. Which is exactly what you want from a consultant.
+61 407 903 853