This week on campus our creative and media agency Drum-PHD, photographer and a film crew, supported by Marketing, have been on site to capture stills and video footage for our new brand campaign; ‘Find your thing’ – Rapua tō ara.
Find your thing, at Unitec
This ‘tag line’ is a key part of Unitec’s brand messaging and is being used in different variations to create connections with people who are needing, now more than ever, to find their thing, e.g. Find your place, find your people; Find your focus, find your future.
The campaign is about us – our people, our staff and students on campus – showing a glimpse of the journey that will get them to Unitec and helping them to see themselves here.
It’s a dual-category campaign – a ‘Bretail approach’
Bretail: The ‘B’ is for brand, our Unitec brand – what we represent – and ‘retail’ is what we sell; our programmes and courses. The two-part campaign will focus on brand as referenced above, and at the same time a campaign will run that focuses on our retail products, featuring radio, digital, social and out-of-home.
This week…
It’s an exciting time for everyone involved in the shoot this week, particularly our students (over 50 students have been part of the photo and video shoots), many staff and the Marketing team who have been working on the campaign for many months; preparing briefs, ‘brain-storming’ sessions, analysing research, focus groups, scouting talent and more, to get to this stage of the campaign.
This mahi has included a very detailed production plan to ensure the photographer, film crew, and talent’s time on campus is carefully orchestrated.
Bringing Te Noho Kotahitanga into the campaign 
Integral to the campaign for Marketing & Communications Director, Vivienne Merito, has been embedding Te Noho Kotahitanga into the design journey, from briefings and strategic planning, to choosing imagery, locations and talent.
Viv has been particularly proud of how our agency partner has taken the time to engage with our wider Unitec whānau (from ELT to UPC and more), and bring our values through in the creative narrative and strategic approach.
“Being welcomed onto Te Noho Kotahitanga marae, and spending time with the marae and kaihautū whānau had a profound impact on the production crew. It was a perfect example of rangatiratanga and the weaving together in partnership our collective strengths within a kaupapa Māori context. It’s a rarity to have a mainstream advertising agency take on the kōrero, whakapapa and tikanga concepts so readily. We can’t wait to share the results over the next few weeks.”
As these different elements to the campaigns shape to finished product, we’ll share more with you, including some crew interviews and ‘behind the scenes’ pictures.
Pictured below are some of the many involved in the shoot including people from our Marketing Brand team, the film crew, agency staff, and talent – our students and staff
Note: The above production is independent of the filming in and around B001, which is a TV series being filmed through a formal location contract with Unitec – more on this here.