The Waitaki story, logo and branding has been approved by Waitaki District Councillors, to be used as a foundation for helping promote the district.

In recent weeks the public was invited to attend a series of ‘community conversations’ in Palmerston, Kurow, Hampden, Ōmārama, Otematata, Kakanui and Ōamaru to preview the proposed new brand identity, logo and signage, and give their feedback.

In a council meeting on Tuesday (26 November), chief executive Alex Parmley said the overwhelming response from those who engaged with them was positive.

“We need to recognise that not everyone engaged across the district in those events, but those that did were, you know, generally enthused by what they saw and supportive of it.” 

The new brand identity was poorly received in the last of the ‘community conversations’ in Ōamaru.

Council business attraction and recovery manager Mel Jones said that was the only group where there was a negative response, attributing that negativity to “some people who came into the room who did have pre-set agendas”.

“Overall the response has been really positive”, she said. 

“We've had a lot of emails post the events saying, 'hey, that story really resonates, we really feel like you've understood what this district is, all around, you understood how the communities have impacted on what has shaped our identity'.”

Mr Parmley said the 10-year Uplifting Waitaki: Hāpaitia te Waitaki Economic Development strategy, adopted in September 2022, identified that an engaging Waitaki story and identity, powerfully communicated, was a key enabler for economic growth.

“It was identified that there was an opportunity to promote the district better to potential investors and businesses, and visitors and also potential residents who would bring the skills that our businesses and our other services need.

“But in doing this, there's an opportunity to do it in an authentic way, so, not just adopting a identity and brand, but something that was based on the story of the district and the people in the communities of the district as well.” 

This first iteration of the new branding was developed by Wellington agencies Story Inc in partnership with Ocean Design. 

Ms Jones said ongoing development of the story and brand “is now going to come in-house . . . taking on board all the feedback so that we can have iterated designs and then we’re looking to go back to the communities early in the new year”.

“There was a lot of feedback and a lot of different feedback," she said.

“We’re going to have to just think smartly about it.”

She provided an “early concept of how district signage might look”, noting different suggestions from townships could be incorporated.

“In Kakanui there was a great idea of we're about to take a bridge down, can we use some of the posts for the bridge as part of our new signage”, she said.

“One idea that came up from Hampden was could we have a plesiosaur because that was found on our beach a while ago?

“I think it's exciting because the community want to share their stories with us and share their thinking with us, and we're going to encourage that - we will be putting a page up on the website to enable more people to put their thoughts up there.”

Council people and transformation group manager Lisa Baillie said there were fantastic ideas that came through the sessions.

"And not just on the signage, but also the taglines and the ways to be able to introduce the flavours of each of our townships into the whole story.”

In discussing possible future funding requirements and budget reserves that could be made available for this project, Mayor Gary Kircher asked councillors to be “mindful” of spending impacts on other projects, particularly the Waitaki Whitestone Geopark.

Ms Jones said they were conscious that for the geopark to retain its UNESCO global status, it needs to be signposted.

“Whichever way we split the funds, the Geopark is still getting the benefit."

Councillor Rebecca Ryan said she was "really excited" about the project and the branding refresh. 

“It's really hard when there's so many great things about the Waitaki district, to bring them all together and create that branding.

“There's absolutely different areas that people are really passionate about and that's why it's so difficult to bring the essence all together.

“The workshop that I attended, there was just such great attendance from such a wide group of people. And there was some great debate and discussions happened and based on some of those discussions, you know, elements have changed and so it's fantastic that they've been taken on board.”

Mayor Kircher refuted claims in social media that Victoriana was being "kicked out". 

“We've got so many things that are good about the Waitaki district, and we need something that can umbrella all of those. I think this does," he said.

“It can be used as easily with Victoriana as it can be with geology as it can be with you know, our wildlife. All those things can be utilised under this umbrella very well."

Council agreed to adopt the Waitaki Story and District brand identity, commence implementation of the brand identity with existing resources, prioritise signage subject to local engagement and review the existing council WDC brand to better complement and leverage the district brand.

See the full Council meeting here (Adoption of the Waitaki Identity and Story from 31:18)

See the Agenda including the full Waitaki Story and brand identity here (from page 49).