Congratulations to Rod and his associates for undertaking the challenge to address New Zealand’s digital divide. As Rod has said to me, it’s not just about faster and more accessible broadband, it’s about addressing an alarming social and economic divide with the rest of the developed world. It will open up a gateway with the world unlike anything we’ve ever known.
We must take some pride in Hawke’s Bay’s involvement with Pacific Fibre. Rod initially shared his vision with me at Raffles Street Café, with a further meeting of founders flown in from each end of the North Island to little ol’ Napier. This meeting was to kick start the process of developing a brand of global proportions.
The combination of my marketing and telecommunications background, together with the design talent of the team at Tank Marketing, positioned us well to bring Rod’s vision to life. The team at Tank worked tirelessly in building a brand, proposition, and message construct that not only needed to have an excitement factor, but also install absolute confidence among business leaders, the investment community and government alike. This brand needed to punch above its weight!
Tank Marketing worked collaboratively with the founders in developing the story that is now manifesting itself in the media. Acknowledgement has to go to the team at Mogul who pulled together a temporary website in days (complete with blog). Rabbit and hat spring to mind – you guys are da bomb!
Being involved at such a formative stage, with numerous stakeholders spread throughout the country, not to mention tight timeframes, meant that we relied heavily on technology to aid our collaboration – what would we do without Google Docs and Skype? In 2013 we will without a doubt be asking ourselves what did we do without Pacific Fibre?