MANDY SMITH
A T-shirt designer is hoping a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign will put Waipukurau on the map.
Auckland-based designer Marcus Marsh, who grew up in Waipukurau, is behind a campaign encouraging people to shun the Pacific's white sand beaches in favour of "the scorching hot boulders of the Tuki Tuk river", axe
exotic delights for "a real feed of steak, eggs and chips at Whooter's Bar and Grill" and test their rallying skills on "a string of under-funded gravel roads".
And all to sell a few T-shirts.
"I wanted to do it because my friend Thompson McKenzie, another staunch Waipuk boy, has been travelling in South America and wants to represent where he's from," the 27-year-old said.
"We're trying to put Waipuk on the map." The cheeky advertising campaign, which refers to Waipukurau as "the crown jewel in the world's most select holiday destinations", was the result of email banter between friends.
So far, Mr Marsh has sold about 100 shirts to ex-Waipukurau residents like himself, mainly through e-mail and word of mouth.
But he expects sales to pick up once locals get over the inevitable "small-town cringe" and outsiders catch on.
"Wherever I go, I bump into people who have ties with Waipuk," he said.
"It's a small place but its presence does extend a long way throughout New Zealand."
He said the shirts were a way to show the town could laugh at itself.
"We may even launch into stubbies."
Although Mr Marsh was now based in Auckland, he said there was "some hope" he might return to the 'Puk in his golden years.
"That's if I can afford the real estate," he said.
"Because by the time we're finished, property prices will probably have boomed."
* For more information, contact Marcus at waipuktees@gmail.com.
