Tiakina Whangārei is a community-led urban initiative that’s all about communities, kaitiakitanga and conservation. As a new entity, the challenge is to grow the brand and create behavioural change by engaging and inspiring people to care for their environment.
Tiakina Whangārei has a mission to connect people with their environment through new and existing conservation projects, to become kaitiaki of Whangārei’s native biodiversity. The project is being led by the Northland Regional Council and NorthTec and the goal is to inspire and support those living, working and playing in urban Whangārei to get involved in rat trapping to help our native environment thrive.
As a new entity, Tiakina Whangārei needed support to raise its profile among those in Whangārei city to help raise awareness of the benefits that come with managing key predators in the urban environment. This is a long-term project and the communications we have developed are strongly focused on engaging with the local community, creating conversations about making predator control accessible, and creating opportunities for education and awareness-raising, in order to change thinking and behaviour over many years.
Our mahi to date
- Communications & Engagement Strategy
- Logo & Identity Development
- Brand Story & Messaging
- Website Design & Development
- Digital Marketing
- Collateral Design & Production
Brand design
In true community spirit, the Tiakina Whangārei logo was designed by the community and captures key symbolism from the local landscape and environment. Level took the community design and strengthened it to ensure it would stand the test of time, as well as building a brandstyle around the logo. The bright and distinctive colours help Tiakina Whangārei to stand out at community events and to sit alongside other conservation projects. The brand is designed to be friendly, warm and welcoming to encourage community engagement and involvement, and to strengthen community connectedness.
Connecting with people outside the existing conservation community
One of the biggest challenges for Tiakina Whangārei is to connect with people who are not already consciously taking action to support the environment. For people who already have an understanding of biodiversity and sustainability, the objectives of Tiakina Whangārei are clear. However, for many people, these feel bigger issues that are out of their hands – what difference will one rat trap in my backyard really make? We are working with Tiakina Whangārei to understand these ideas and beliefs, so we can identify ways to connect with the community through new channels, such as sporting events and local business networks. As well as the development and execution of a communications strategy and plan over the past 18 months, we continue to support the project in an ongoing advisory role as well as production and delivery of all communications collateral.
One key strategy to grow awareness about Tiakina Whangārei and its wider predator free objectives is through Facebook. As well as ongoing awareness-raising, we have run a number of campaigns for Tiakina Whangārei, including a limited edition t-shirt design and online sale for Christmas, and dedicated family activities to entertain and educate children during the first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020. Across all campaigns, we have exceeded KPIs for reach and engagement.
"Katy and her team at Level have supported the development and growth of Tiakina Whangarei since its inception. We thoroughly value the insight, professionalism and innovation they bring; our project is in a much stronger position because of them".
Dai Morgan, Project Lead