Region rebrand due by end of March
The almost $500,000 project to rebrand and replace signage in and around the South Waikato should be unveiled to the public by late March this year.
The South Waikato District Council (SWDC) launched the rebranding project in August 2021 after research revealed many people outside the district couldn’t place it on a map or had negative perceptions of its towns.
The brand concept was due to be delivered to the council in October 2021 with the new signage to be erected in February 2022, however that date has been pushed back to late March after initial brand concepts were presented to councillors on February 3.
The rebranding project has a budget of $138,000 that includes project management, community engagement, and brand architecture, and an additional $350,000 has been budgeted for town signage replacement.
The council employed community engagement specialist Tania Jones to gather feedback from the Tokoroa, Putāruru, Tīrau and Arapuni communities, along with award-winning brand strategy and design company Sven & Friends.
According to a SWDC Economic Development and Marketing team spokesperson, a wideranging engagement process included meetings with Ngāti Raukawa, the Pacific Island community, schools, businesses and the general public to ‘‘...capture the essence of South Waikato and how the community would like the towns and district to be portrayed’’.
‘‘Additionally, we have spoken to external stakeholders – people with expertise in place-making, entrepreneurs and economists to gather their informed opinions about how South Waikato needs to present itself to potential investors, residents and visitors.’’
The spokesperson said final design concepts were awaiting approval from a stakeholder advisory group and should be made public in late March.
When interviewed in August last year, the council’s marketing officer Anton Sudano said it was a challenging task to rebrand the district’s outdated signage that would create unity while projecting each town’s unique identity.
He said the council’s logo won’t change, but it was yet to be determined whether iconic forestry and sawmill imagery in Tokoroa, the Blue Spring in Putāruru and corrugated iron in Tīrau would be incorporated into new branding.