The Worlds eyes are on Timaru
Timaru There is no doubt in my mind that with the right marketing strategies in place and the right people to implement them Timaru could become the sporting capital of the South Island and possibly New Zealand. In addition to all our excellent sporting facilities we have the 3 most important things going for us which is location, location and location.
What is our name
I admit there is a few other things we need to put us on the map as a sporting capital and one of them is a 5 star hotel and conference centre. However before we can do anything we have to decide on what we are going to call ourselves.These are some of the names former promoters of our district have used so far. Aorangi, Aoraki, Mt Cook, Rangitata, Central South Island, South Canterbury, Heartland and Timaru. The people that dreamed up many these fancy names obviously did not go to the same marketing seminar that I did. I was taught the KISS method of marketing “Keep it Simple Stupid”. I see that the present company that is responsible for marketing these names has 6 words in their own name. Aoraki Development Business and Tourism.
Which name to use
We had a situation last week where the South Canterbury Rugby Union and the company with the long name ADBAT were at odds on the placing of the name Timaru on the Alpine Energy rugby field during a major sporting event The Timaru ratepayer funded ADBAT did not want to part with any of its ratepayer money for the cost of the name Timaru being painted on the playing field but instead they wanted to use the money themselves to promote their own website address which is South Canterbury with an org in it. Their South Canterbury website has very small print that is hard to read and was designed by a company based in a town outside of the Timaru district yet it has a webpage that says buy local. In the meantime the Aoraki promotional company with the long name managed to stretch their South Canterbury website name across the front of the grandstand and also squeeze it on to the end of the privately funded Timaru sign on the playing field.
Timaru is our name
If we are to ever become the sporting capital of the South Island then we have it to promote the word Timaru around the world but the hardest part is finding a marketing company with the right attitude that will do it. Finally I would like to thank all those local businesses that paid for the Timaru sign to be painted on the rugby playing field in the weekend, they are all to be commended for that.
