About the project

The Background

The key theme of the Auckland Coastguard's presence at the event revolved around water safety. Partnering with Coastguard Education, the activation aimed to combine informative demonstrations and family-friendly activities with impactful messaging about their mission, "powered by volunteers". Brandstand produced all the stand display materials and assisted with the thinking around the knot challenge.

The Result

The activation included a number of elements to reinforce messaging, boost engagement and create a lasting impression. Key materials included:

• TidesOut Maps as Engagement Tools: Two promotional maps of the Hauraki Gulf were used to incentivise donations and encourage competition entries
• Pop-Up Banners: Five bannerstands were sited on the stand to drive the messaging
• Backdrop Display Wall: A portable and reusable backdrop for visual consistency
• Double-sided Leaflets: Durable, semi-waterproof leaflets detailing ACI on one side and CE offerings on the other
• Knot Challenge Installation: To drive visitor interaction as well as boating education

We had not worked with Brandstand for merchandise before and discovered them via a Google search – a little bit like finding a needle in a haystack as there are just so many options out there! Brandstand very quickly made our shortlist, however, as they were super responsive and were obviously committed to providing a good service. While we did end up getting ideas from a couple of companies, we decided to go with Brandstand simply because they were willing and able to get samples to us almost on the spot which was helpful given the timeframe we were working to.
A key driver in arranging this merchandise was being able to showcase our updated logo and Signature patterns at our upcoming conference in Fiji. Brandstand understood our brief and came up with creative solutions and concepts, then visualised and presented these to us. It was a bit of a leap of faith as we didn’t know how our patterns in particular would turn out on some of the products selected but we couldn’t be happier with the results – they look great and we have had plenty of positive feedback.
Communication around process and delivery timeframes was excellent, and all items arrived either early or on-time. It did feel like they really cared about what we needed to achieve. I’d be very happy to recommend Peter, Sofia and the Brandstand team to anybody

Portia Lawrence, Group Executive, Signature Homes