Mayors get behind marketing tagline

Hawke' Bay mayors and regional chair (from left) Peter Butler, Lawrence Yule, Bill Dalton, Fenton Wilson, and Craig Little are all behind the marketing initiative Great Things Grow Here Hawke's Bay.

"Great Things Grow Here" could become the "pre-eminent" marketing brand for the region with all the mayors and chairpeople lending their support to the campaign.

This about-face on the backing for the Hastings District Council-borne brand follows meetings and the adding of the words "Hawke's Bay" to the end of the tagline, which has seemingly made it more appealing to the different local authorities.

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said this united support for the brand was progress that he was "delighted" about.

"I think it is fantastic," he said.

The mayor said that while the campaign might have been shrouded in some controversy at the beginning, people now acknowledged it was a good brand and were picking it up in droves and using it.

"So I think there is every chance it will end up being the pre-eminent economic development brand for the region," he said.

However, it was only last month when Napier Mayor Bill Dalton accused Mr Yule of Hastings being unwilling to work with other councils to promote Hawke's Bay's economic development.

He said at the time that he did not believe Great Things Grow Here was appropriate for the whole region.

Now Mr Dalton says that "we've always supported it", providing the campaign is properly administered.

He said when the original campaign was launched in late 2014 it never went anywhere.

"The reason for [that] is it was just simply a Hastings programme that they tried to market as a regional programme - it didn't work and so it died."

He said the Hastings council had acknowledged this and brought in Sam Jackman to rebuild and rejuvenate the whole campaign.

Mr Dalton said while he did not think the brand worked for tourism - the mainstay of Napier's economy - there would be places where his council would use it. "We are happy with the direction it is going now," Mr Dalton said.

Central Hawke's Bay Mayor Peter Butler said he too was right behind the campaign from the beginning, and that it was a brand he saw working for his district.

He said he could see the brand on the meat that came out of Affco in Wairoa and the Mr Apple fruit that came out of CHB.

"I would just love to see it on the back of every Stephenson Transport truck and farmers' transport truck. I plan to put it on our own truck and trailer," he said.

"I can see amazing things [for it], I can just see it working."

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said he thought the brand was a "wonderful little catchy number" that could be used for everything.

"It is a great initiative, especially after amalgamation here we are using something from Hastings, which is fantastic," he said.

Hawke's Bay Regional Council chairman Fenton Wilson said "Great Things Grow Here Hawke's Bay New Zealand" has "got the bones" of a great tagline for the productive capacity of the region.

"That is across a range of produce," he said. "You can almost turn the tagline to all sorts of things."