News

The threatening rain wasn’t enough to deter cricket fans from Cobham Oval on Waitangi weekend as International Cricket made its debut in Whangarei in front of a capacity crowd.

Big Fish Creative was on the scene to capture the Black Caps as they batted their way to their third highest one-day score of 372 for 6 with an impressive 146 against Zimbabwe in the National Bank Series.

Those who weren’t able to watch the game live got to see a preview of Big Fish Creative’s timelapse showcasing Whangarei during the intermission on Sky Sport.

To see the crowds and highlights of the match, check out this video we filmed on behalf of the Northland Cricket Association.

This year’s ‘Whangarei: Love it Here’ Billboard competition has received an overwhelming response for the second year running, with over 370 entries from throughout the district showing why people love it here in Whangarei.

After a gruelling selection process with so much great local talent to choose from, the judging panel narrowed it down to six finalists whose images capture the essence of summer in Whangarei.

The six finalists are:

• ‘Skaters’ by Dakota Stewart
• ‘Whangaumu Bay’ by Ivonne Willcocks
• ‘Whangarei Falls’ by Kristi Henare
• ‘Langs Beach’ by Sarah Warrington
• ‘Whangarei Heads’ by Sam Cotterill-Craig
• ‘Surf at Ocean Beach’ by Amanda Walker

The billboards are now on display on the grassy area between Victoria Bridge and the Town Basin in central Whangarei.

One of the finalists will receive prizes from A Perfect Day cruises, Schnappa Rock Cafe and Oceans Resort and Hotel at Tutukaka. To have your say on which finalist should receive the prize, ‘like’ the photo on the Whangarei: Love it Here facebook page, or text ‘NAD’ and the photographer’s name to 021 241 4568.

Big Fish Creative has loved being involved in this competition for the second year running and it’s great to see more people entering and more feedback from the community. Make sure you nominate your favourite before voting closes on 24th February, when the lucky winner will be announced!

If you’re from Whangarei and you love the place, here’s your chance to show thousands of people just how much you Love it Here!

After the success of last year’s Billboard Challenge launched in late December 2010, the competition has reopened for a new year of entries.

This competition is one of the initiatives run as part the Whangarei: Love it Here Campaign which actively engages the community to take a lead role in showing pride in their community.

This year’s lucky winner will receive prizes from A Perfect Day cruises, Schnappa Rock Cafe and Oceans Resort and Hotel at Tutukaka.

The ‘Love It Here’ billboard competition is open to anyone who thinks they have a summer photograph that evokes why they Love It Here. To enter, simply send your photograph as a JPG attachment to competition@whangareinz.com by January 30th 2012.

Big Fish Creative is thrilled to be involved in the competition for the second year running. Check out the Whangarei : Love it Here facebook page that we’ll be updating daily so you can find out who the finalists are and have your say on the final winners.

One lucky Katikati farmer is looking forward to a “bit of a shindig” with Marc Ellis at his place early this year, after winning The Barn Company’s first barn warming. The Katikati local secured his Barn Company barn, barn warming and Supreme Masport BBQ at this year’s Mystery Creek Fieldays when he pushed the barn auction bidding to $17,000.

We we’re delighted to announce the second lucky Barn Company customer was not just one person but rather a whole airport! Yes, that’s right, Ardmore Airport in South Auckland is the lucky winner of the second barn warming, having signed up for not one, but several buildings in the last few months.

The Barn Company is a New Zealand owned and operated company, with 22 locally owned franchises reaching from Cape Reinga to Bluff. They specialise in the design and construction of rural, commercial and industrial buildings, offering the best steel building solution in the country.

The Barn Company buildings are New Zealand designed, manufactured and constructed to the highest engineering standards using a patented Bracketless Portal System that makes them superior to other steel building product on the market.

Big Fish Creative has been working with them for the last year developing a new range of marketing collateral, updating the branding and strategising for campaigns such as the barn warmings. We’ve loved every minute of helping to deliver this campaign, including creating supporting material for the Fieldays, arranging radio interviews, staging the auction and capturing the whole lot on film. A big congratulations from us to the lucky winners!

What a month it has been for Whangarei! We painted the town red as the Tongan, Japanese and Canadian sides clashed at the Northland Events Centre in the 2011 Rugby World Cup.  The whole city joined in with resounding enthusiasm, whether it be with performing flash mob hakas, wearing red on Wednesdays, or stringing up some of the 40 kilometres of ‘Paint it Red’ banner tape that was used over the event.

In honour of the visiting teams, three unique pieces of artwork were sketched by local artists and the Big Fish Creative design team were delighted to be involved in bringing the sketches to life. The three pieces depict each respective nation intertwining cultures with New Zealand. Just two prints were made of each artwork – one to be sent home with the teams and the other to remain at the Northland Events Centre as a reminder of our wonderful visitors.

Read the stories that inspired each piece below.

Nation:  Tonga

Title:  On Common Ground

Artist:  Te Rangitu Netana

Story: The sacred connections shared between Tonga and Tai Tokerau extend throughout time – across the oceans that connect us, the land and mountains that sustain us and the guardians that protect us. Our shared ancestry is drawn from the beginning of time where together our ancestors slept, to the dawn of our collective awakening. Today we reconnect through our voyaging traditions, our shared sacred practices, beloved reverence for our lands and guardians, and most of all, our connections to each other. May we continue to navigate together as one.

Nation:  Japan

Title:   Te Hononga Wairua (The Spiritual Bond)

Artist:   Poutama Hetaraka

Story: When the Dragon appears on the tail of the Great-Fish-of-Maui (Northland), they are a part of us. When the Taniwha appears on that majestic land of the rising sun (Japan), we are a part of them. The sacred thread between us is a spiritual bond, the axis on which the emerging new world revolves.

Nation:  Canada

Title:  Kia Kotahi (To Unite)

Artist:   Ngaire & Tu Wihongi

Story: The native bee – through its small act of pollination creates the greatest of deeds. In New Zealand and Canada the bee helps to sustain the ever important native flora and fauna including the Kauri and Yellow Cedar. To New Zealand, Tane Mahuta is our largest Kauri and the deity of man, the forests and all that dwell within. For Maori, the family of mankind originates from Tane Mahuta. The bee is to the Kauri like relationships are to man. Relationships generate and sustain bonds much like how bees generate and sustain trees.

Whangarei’s Town Basin is now home to The Hub, a Whangarei focused information centre with excellent information about local events, accommodation and attractions. The building also houses the brand new facility for the Whangarei Art Museum.

The Hub has become the terminal for the Intercity Coach service – a fantastic first impression for coach visitors to Whangarei; and in association with The Hub, a business centre, expanded café and high quality restroom facilities are also being developed.

Work for the city’s world class information centre and art museum began in February this year and the facilities unveiled just in time for the Rugby World Cup. The Information Hub has had a great reception, receiving well over 100 visitors each day since opening. In the first four weeks of opening, the new Whangarei Art Museum, attached to The Hub welcomed just shy of 5,000 visitors through it’s doors – more than an entire year’s audience at the old museum premises!

The development of this centre, the new canopy on the Victoria Bridge, and the sculpture walkway project is part of the vision for developing not only the Town Basin but also the central city and highway entrances to the Whangarei district. Over time, the plan includes a riverside walkway and cycle track loop from the Town Basin to Pohe Island and back over the new bridge.

Big Fish Creative were delighted to work on the concept and design for the spaces, as well as all display material. Collaborating with a range of local contractors was a key part of the role, with tight deadlines met and an exciting end result welcoming visitors to the district. It has been a great reminder as to why we all love Whangarei so much!

The Big Fish Creative team have just returned bronzed and revived after a fantastic trip abroad to Fiji! After selecting 47 students from universities across Australia and New Zealand, the team headed to Fiji to document the students battle it out for a Free UK OE.

The Australasia-wide competition was an online initiative developed for myOE, an organisation which supports traveling professionals with financial and immigration solutions to make the most of their earnings and their new location on their overseas experience.

Big Fish Creative were on site in Fiji to orchestrate ‘stage two’ of the competition, filming the entrants’ video submissions which were then posted online for viewers to vote on. This campaign was been a great success, informing hundreds of new potential clients about myOE’s fantastic services.

For more information, check out the myOE website.

From surf beaches to sunset scenes, Whangarei residents have already entered a dazzling array of photographs in the Whangarei ‘Love it Here’ Billboard Challenge.

“People have until February 14 to get their entries in to us, and from the look of the pictures we have received so far, the competition is going to be spectacular,” says Whangarei District Council Economic Development Manager Pete Gleeson.

“The pictures sent in so far clearly show why people love living in Whangarei. I’m looking forward to all the pictures that will be coming in as people return from holiday and start downloading and sharing their photos. It’s not just about the beautiful scenery – it’s about capturing the essence of this place in the people and the settings that make us unique.”

When the challenge closes on 14 February 2011, all submitted images will go on display as part of the Endless Summer Festival. Judges will select the 12 top images to be transformed into mobile billboards in an open air exhibition in March, and the public will select the winner. Some images may also be transformed into other promotional material such as Whangarei postcards and tea towels, and some will become larger-than-life billboards to showcase the city at future events, including the Rugby World Cup.

The winning entrant will receive a ‘Perfect Day’ day long, sight-seeing cruise for two to the Poor Knights Islands with Dive! Tutukaka.

Mr Gleeson says this great prize donated by Dive! Tutukaka is yet another example of the incredible experiences on offer in the Whangarei District.

“There are so many amazing things about this District, including the Poor Knights Islands, and this collection of billboards will become an iconic visual representation of what makes this place special.”

Launched in late December, the Billboard Challenge is the second in a series of grass-roots initiatives, actively engaging the community to take a lead role and show pride in the community. The initiatives involve representatives from the business, creative, cultural and tourism sectors and Whangarei District Council and are part of a long-term plan to raise Whangarei’s profile as a great place to live, work and play.

The initiative reflects the values being promoted through the Northland Pride Campaign, being run by the Northland Intersectoral Forum (NIF), of which WDC is a member. The Northland Pride Campaign aims to build community ownership of community safety through people taking care of each other and taking pride in their communities.

The NZ Transport Agency has awarded the contract to build the Kamo Bypass to the Whangarei-based civil engineering company, United Civil Construction Ltd.
This exciting new project will provide a high quality route north and an alternative to the existing Kamo Road. The overall project will help move traffic away from the city centre and residential areas surrounding Kamo.

As part of the project, an off-road cyclepath and footpath will be developed for pedestrians and cyclists with extensive landscaping to beautify the environment around the bypass.

Whangarei Mayor Stan Semenoff said he was delighted to see the start of the improvements.

“This council has worked hard with NZTA to meet the Government’s call for infrastructure to drive economic growth, and we are very pleased that the importance of this project to Northland’s economy has been recognised. State Highway 1 is the economic lifeline between Northland and the rest of New Zealand, and we will continue to work with NZTA to see further improvements,” Mr Semenoff said.

Big Fish Creative will be on the scene, capturing every moment as we record the development using timelapse photography. Watch this space to see the progress!

Whangarei now has it’s own range of t-shirts thanks to a t-shirt design competition that attracted entries from across the district.

“Whangarei: love it – show it!” is the theme for a t-shirt competition launched in October as part of a longer term plan to raise the profile of Whangarei as a great place to live, work and play. It is the first in a series of grass-roots initiatives, actively engaging the community who will take a lead role to ensure the initiatives reflect the heart and soul of Whangarei people.

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“Whangarei: you love it – show it!” is the theme for a t-shirt competition recently launched as part of a longer term plan to raise the profile of Whangarei as a great place to live, work and play.  There will be a series of grass-roots initiatives, actively engaging the community who will take a lead role to ensure the initiatives reflect the heart and soul of Whangarei people.

[Read more...]