The new identity will be used to promote Hastings District across tourism and economic development activities and will also be used for Hastings District Council.
The new identity will be used to promote Hastings District across tourism and economic development activities and will also be used for Hastings District Council.
A $40,000 design project to rebrand Hastings completely “misses the mark”, according to a councillor who helped create the branding it will replace.
Previously there were two distinctive brands to define Hastings’ - a gannet-related brand for its district council and a heart-shaped paddock logo for visitors to see asthey arrived.
Damon Harvey was part of a team about 13 years ago that came up with the Hastings - Heart of Hawke’s Bay logo that sits on Hawke’s Bay’s state highways.
He said he got the inspiration from a trip up Te Mata Peak, looking across the horizon and seeing the landscape and the stories it told.
The soon to be retired Hastings - Heart of Hawke’s Bay logo that can be found on Hawke’s Bay’s state highways for a bit longer yet. Photo / Paul Taylor
Both that logo and the council logo are now being replaced as part of the rebrand designed by Wellington-based agency Strategy & Creative.
Hastings District Council said the new brand encompasses both the council identity and the district identity with an “aim to unite” them.
Harvey said his children had told him the new logo looked like it had a “meat tag” on it, that it was “boring” and that it didn’t tell any story.
He believes there were better alternatives that could have been used by council, and while he was happy with some aspects of the process which included councillor consultation over the past few years, he disagreed with the outcome.
The new ‘Heretaunga Hastings’ brand began to appear on Hastings District Council signage, vehicles and parking spaces around the time of Hastings’ 150th celebrations.
Hastings District Council’s group manager of marketing, communications and engagement Naomi Ferguson said the project would help reduce the number of logos used across council services.
“This project commenced in July 2020, with the final phase of detailed design completed shortly before Cyclone Gabrielle,” she said.
“The roll-out was scheduled to coincide with our 150th anniversary and then from there on a gradual ‘renewals’ basis so that there is minimal cost (and waste).”
Ferguson said damage from the cyclone had brought forward some replacements, but it would likely be a number of years before all of the old logos are gone.
Harvey said he was surprised council had decided to change the branding, as he recalled in the past there was a drive for keeping the distinctive “official” brand for documents (the Hastings District Council logo featuring a seagull) and having another experiential logo such as the paddocks-inspired one used on the highway signs.
“There was nothing around the fact of creating just one for Hastings,” he said.
The tender process for the contract was made via gets.govt.nz and Ferguson said no Hawke’s Bay agencies submitted a tender during the procurement process.
A local Māori artist was commissioned to develop some of the icons that will be used in the wider system.
The new brand as pictured in black and white. Hastings mayor Sandra Hazelhurst said it is "contemporary, sleek and sophisticated, and stands out”.
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurstsaid the project included workshops with councillors, staff, residents, visitors and organisations over three years.
She said it the branding was also peer reviewed and then tested with a range of audiences, receiving a “very positive” reception.
“There are a lot of components within the branding that I believe is contemporary, sleek and sophisticated, and stands out,” Hazlehurst said.
“Our councillors have been on the journey through this process, which has culminated in a well-founded and researched operational decision on the various brand components and subsequent roll-out.”
