FAQs

To shift from "Waitaki – where's that again?" to a known, distinct, unique district of New Zealand with a deep history and diverse culture.

Developing the Waitaki Story and district Identity was identified as a key initiative in our Economic Development strategy to drive growth in tourism. 

But when we talked to our community about it, we were told that the Story should be about more than just tourism. We needed a vibrant, cohesive brand for the district. We needed a story to reflect our unique character, one that could instil a sense of community pride, build our reputation and support the attraction of investment and people – future residents, businesses and visitors to the district.

The Waitaki Story is part of, and underpins, the work being done on a Waitaki Brand and Identity. 

The story is a resource that anyone or any organisation in the district can use as much as they like - and by doing so make Waitaki better appreciated locally, around New Zealand and internationally.

The important thing is that the stories are told, and people know some of the extraordinary things that have happened, and are still happening, in this amazing corner of the world.

The Waitaki Brand and Identity are being developed to bring some consistency and cohesion to the look and feel of signage and marketing campaigns across the district. The first application of the new brand will be on township and district entry signage.

But we will be working with communities to dig deeper into their own local stories, to capture them for future generations and work out how best to share these stories.

The total budget for this project includes stakeholder and community engagement, research and story development, district identity and branding, and signage design.  $75k has been allocated to the Waitaki Identity & Story project in the 2024/25 Annual Plan.

The project has been funded from the services grant provided to Tourism Waitaki Ltd.

The core project group involved members of Council's Economic & Community Development team, Communication & Engagement team, Cultural Facilities team as well as representatives form Tourism Waitaki and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

Two agencies helped us with the research, development and design of the Waitaki Story: Ocean Design and Story Inc.

In October 2023 we ran a series of Community Conversations in townships across the district. We asked residents and businesses what they loved about their towns and about Waitaki, what they wouldn't want to lose, the challenges they faced and what they hoped for the future of their place.

• We had 200+ attendees across these events and 100+ surveys and ideas added online.
• We used some of that feedback to help inform our Annual Plan and Long Term Plan. 
• We also used it as a starting off point for building the Waitaki Story.

During January - August 2024 we went on a deeper dive in targeted stakeholder engagement with groups and representatives from diverse sectors and cultural backgrounds. This included workshops and face-to-face interviews.

In November 2024 we went back around the district with more Community Conversations where we presented the Waitaki Story plus where we'd got to with the district brand design and discussed ideas for township signage. 

Now's your chance to get involved again.

We're bound to have missed a lot! 

Please use the map and stories tool on this page to tell us if there are key elements or themes to the Waitaki Story we may have missed. 

This is a long term project and we're just at the beginning.