Why CoLAB works: how global brands use events to enter new markets

If you’re working to expand into new markets, your early plans might follow the conventional rhythm. Maybe you’ll prepare a press release announcing arrival, a translated website to explain your offer, and a regional sales team to step in and drive momentum. 

But across global markets, credibility now grows through understanding. Audiences respond to brands that take time to learn how people think, move, and collaborate. This shift explains why major events have become such powerful entry points. They compress insight, access, and cultural context into a shared moment where brands can listen as much as they speak.

At LEAP, entering the market means earning a place through participation.

Why events have become cultural gateways 

Global tech events bring together decision-makers, founders, regulators, early adopters, and cultural tastemakers, all navigating the same space and shaping the same conversations. The brands that succeed in these environments approach events as learning environments rather than sales floors – something we’ve seen in action at LEAP each year. 

They observe how people move through the venue, where attention gathers, and which ideas spark conversation and sharing. From those observations, relevance begins to take shape through interaction rather than assumption – allowing those brands to build alongside the market, rather than around it.

Localisation shows credibility 

At events, and out there in the market, audiences quickly recognise whether your brand has invested in understanding cultural context or simply arrived with a global template. True localisation lives in tone, design, and storytelling, and in how clearly a brand connects to local ambition and innovation.

At LEAP, the brands that quickly build local opportunities are those that reinterpret global ideas through a regional lens – aligning with Saudi Arabia’s future-focused narrative and the wider region’s pace of transformation. This approach shows respect, curiosity, and long-term intent.

Co-creation as market entry 

Collaboration plays a defining role in this process. And we created CoLAB to help your brand enter new markets through co-creation rather than observation.

By collaborating inside the LEAP ecosystem, you can shape experiences, products, and campaigns that reflect both global ambition and local relevance. Pop-up activations invite exploration, limited-edition collaborations create shared moments of urgency, and co-branded digital campaigns extend those stories beyond the venue. 

Together, these elements allow brands to test resonance and demonstrate commitment. 

Relevance travels further than reach 

The most effective collabs are always designed for the audience, the region, and the moment; they feel intentional, and they integrate naturally into the rhythm of the event. 

These experiences are incredibly important – because for many brands, LEAP serves as the beginning of a longer journey. And you need to start that journey with strong brand affinity and a route to quickly build trust with partners and buyers. 

CoLAB partnerships extend beyond the event through digital campaigns, travelling content, and insights that inform longer-term regional strategy. CoLAB works because it embraces the reality that markets will open up to your brand if you build relationships first. 

If you’re ready to build relevance before scale, credibility before conversion, and experiences that endure beyond the event itself, we provide the starting point.

Arrive with purpose. Belong with confidence. 

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