A rose town by any other name . . .
Back in the day, almost every home in Te Awamutu featured an elaborate rose garden confirming its position as the Rose Town of New Zealand.
It’s a brand that’s stuck with shops, car dealerships, hotels, service groups and even a funeral home taking ‘‘Rose Town’’ and putting it on the front of their business names.
But a second attempt in five years could be on the horizon to change the town’s brand and identity.
Te Awamutu Community Board agreed to look at setting the scope, purpose and membership of a review after being prompted by a business owner.
Te Awamutu did not have a monopoly on the Rose Town brand. Palmerston North was also known as the ‘‘Rose City’’ and it was a brand decorating the names of many businesses over the years.
Cambridge, the nearest major town to Te Awamutu, was once known as ‘‘The
Town of Trees’’ but ‘‘Home of Champions’’ is its brand now, referring to the elite athletes who live there working on high performance sport programmes.
Te Awamutu Community Board thought any review should build on research completed in 2016 that investigated the appetite for a brand change.
Susan Trodden was chief executive of the Te Awamutu Chamber of Commerce at that time.
‘‘We had quite a mixed response and it’s fair to say young people didn’t identify with Rose Town and didn’t see the point of it.
‘‘There was division and we couldn’t get enough momentum for change. There was too much opposition, people wanting to keep the Rose Town story alive.’’
The chamber set up its own brand called ‘‘Totally Te Awamutu’’ to promote shopping in the town. ‘‘The brand became quite strong but not enough to overtake Rose Town.’’
Efforts to rebrand were being worked in with the development of Te Ara Wai, the district’s new museum in Te Awamutu but the museum was put on hold, forcing a pause on the rebrand too.
Trodden said Rose Town did not fit in with Te Ara Wai, which would have a strong focus on Mā ori history and the land wars in the Waipā district.
‘‘Now is probably a good time to think about what the identity of Te Awamutu should be. It needs to be done by the people in the community, not an outside voice giving it a brand.’’
The chamber’s current president, Kerrianne Krelle, said it still supported a brand change.
She said Te Awamutu was a mix of farmers, agricultural business and general business; it was a town where gumboots were acceptable attire and milk trucks travelled down the main street.
‘‘Te Awamutu has almost created its own brand being a small, farming, and businessbased town, and this is the brand we could run with.’’
Ngā Iwi Tō pū o Waipā , the group representing all hapū in the district, was likely to discuss the matter before the end of this month.
Chairwoman Gaylene Roberts said there was interest in making a change.
‘‘We have another generation of young people who want to live and be proud of Te Awamutu.
‘‘Unfortunately, if a survey was taken we may find there is insufficient knowledge of the [rose] gardens in the town now, other than from those who have lived in Te Awamutu and Kihikihi for many years.’’
Roberts said the late Te Arikinui Te Aatairangikaahu was very fond of the Te Awamutu Rose Gardens and presented the town with a tō tara tree, which was planted there.
Te Awamutu Rose Society president Diana Jones did not think the brand name should change.
‘‘I guess I am a rose person so I would like to see it kept but we are known all over the world as the Rose Town of New Zealand.’’
Jones, who restarted the society in 2020, said the town’s rose garden on Gorst Ave was one of the best attractions in the district.
There were more than 1000 rose plants that flower up to eight months of the year. The garden was free for people to walk through and picnic.
Jones was aware of Te Ara Wai museum development and agreed with suggestions of a hybrid name combining the two.
Hamilton and Waikato Tourism chief executive Jason Dawson said there were plenty of examples of town slogans or brands gone wrong.
He said a good brand would represent residents’ views, community pride, look back at what the community was and why it existed, the importance of the place to Mā ori, the land, the awa, the people, and how people view the town today.
It was a process that could take up to two years.
‘‘I am assuming this is why there was a need to align to the development of Te Ara Wai, which would be a place to eventually tell these stories of what was here before.’’
Steve Ballantyne, at consultancy Brand IQ, said rebranding towns and cities were complex projects.
‘‘Don’t throw away all of the history and heritage of a town, you need to modernise it, give it a new twist that appeals to a new generation.’’
He said Absolutely Positively Wellington, a brand now 30 years old, was a good example.
‘‘It wasn’t a statement about what went on in the city but was more about an attitude that everyone could relate to.
‘‘City brands need to be a little more aspirational, more like a mirror where everyone gets their own reflection but a slightly different version for each person.’’